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REGINALD  PECOCK 

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Churchman  and  Man  of  Letters 


A  Study  in  Fifteenth  Century 
English  Prose 


A  Dissertation 


Submitted   to   the    Faculty    of    Letters    of   the 

Catholic  University  of  America  in  partial 

fulfilment  of  the  requirements  for  the 

Degree  of  Doctor  of  Philosophy 


By 


REV.  EMMET  A.  HANNICK,  A  B.,  A.  M., 
of  the  Diocese  of  Detroit 


REGINALD  PECOCK 

Churchman  and  Man  of  Letters 


A  Study  in  Fifteenth  Century 
English  Prose 


A  Dissertation 


Submitted   to   the    Faculty    of    Letters    of    the 

Catholic  University  of  America  in  partial 

fulfilment  of  the  requirements  for  the 

Degree  of  Doctor  of  Philosophy 


By 


REV.  EMMET  A.  HANNICK,  A.  B.,  A.  M., 
of  the  Diocese  of  Detroit 


Nihil  Obstat. 

t  THOMAS  J.  SHAHAN,  D.  D., 

Censor   Deputatus. 
Imprimatur. 

t  MICHAEL  J.  CUBLEY,  D.  D., 

Archiepiscopus    Baltimorcnsis. 
Baltimorae,  die  26  Mail,  1922. 


Copyright,  1922,  EMMET  HANNICK. 


To 

The  Et.  Eev.  M.  J.  Gallagher,  D.  D., 

Bishop  .of  Detroit, 

this  volume  is 

respectfully 

dedicated. 


478660 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

PREFACE    , i-ii 

Chapter  I        1 

Reginald  Pecock,  Biographical  Sketch. 

Chapter  II      24 

Lollardy,  Its  Causes,  Remote  and  Proximate. 

Chapter  III    . 52 

Fifteenth  Century  Prose  and  Lollardy. 

Chapter  IV    70 

Pecock 's  Represser  and  Lollardy. 

Chapter  Y      102 

Pecock,  the  Exponent  of  Fifteenth  Century 
Prose. 

Bibliography   125-128 

Following  Chapter  V. 


PREFACE 

The  fifteenth  century  is  one  of  the  most  difficult 
periods  for  the  student  of  English  History  to  contend 
with.  Due  to  the  absence  of  documentary  evidence  a 
great  deal  of  conjecture  and  obscurity  still  surrounds  the 
political,  social  and  religious  conditions  of  the  times. 
However,  earnest  research  of  comparatively  recent  date 
has  cast  new  light  upon  this  obscurity,  and  conjecture  is 
giving  way  to  certitude,  or  at  least  conclusions  are  being 
arrived  at  that  will,  perhaps,  necessitate  the  recasting  of 
the  traditional  viewpoint. 

Fifteenth  century  literature  has  also  suffered  from 
this  traditional  viewpoint.  Scholars  in  their  zeal  to  set 
in  relief  the  literary  attainments  of  the  thirteenth  century 
or  to  embellish  the  phenomenal  outburst  of  sixteenth  cen- 
tury originality,  have  either  neglected  altogether  the 
fifteenth  century,  or  have  exaggerated  the  lines  of  con- 
trast, thus  leaving  the  stigma  of  mediocrity  upon  a  period 
that  is  worthy  of  greater  consideration. 

The  author  of  the  following  study  first  became  inter- 
ested in  this  period  while  pursuing  a  course  of  lectures 
on  Early  English  Chroniclers  given  at  the  Catholic 
University  of  America  by  Prof.  P.  J.  Lennox,  Litt.  D. 
This  interest  was  further  stimulated  by  later  studies  in 
fifteenth  century  drama  under  Mr.  D.  Nichol  Smith, 
M.  A.,  at  Oxford. 

The  present  work  had  its  inception  in  the  library  of 
Duke  Humphrey  of  Gloucester,  Oxford.  This  was  a  very 
happy  coincidence,  since  at  the  beginning  of  my  labours 
I  had  not  yet  come  to  the  realization  that  the  lives  of  the 
two  great  men,  Humphrey  of  Gloucester  and  Reginald 
Pecock,  were  so  intimately  interwoven. 

Very  few  scholars,  even  in  recent  times,  have 
attempted  a  solution  of  the  problem  surrounding  the 
life  and  works  of  the  greatest  prose  writer  of  the  iif- 


teenth  century.  The  few,  three  in  number,  have  ap- 
proached the  question  with  a  great  deal  of  scholarly 
experience,  bequeathing  to  us  very  worthy  contributions. 
However,  it  occurred  to  me  that  something  more  could 
be  done  by  a  detailed  study  of  the  literary  qualities  of 
the  model  English  prose  productions  of  this  obscure 
period ;  and  that  there  are  certain  historical  facts  dealing 
with  Pecock 's  life  that  might  be  cleared  up;  but  what 
is  of  still  greater  importance,  that  there  is  a  viewpoint 
in  dealing  with  such  matters,  one  which  must  necessarily 
be  taken  into  consideration,  namely,  the  viewpoint  of 
one  who  has  a  common  faith  with  the  one  time  Bishop 
of  Chichester. 

While  in  Borne  I  took  occasion  to  consult  the  Vatican 
Archives,  and  found  there  correspondence  that  sheds 
light  upon  the  interesting  controversy  which  had  its 
origin  in  the  incidents  connected  with  the  fall  of  Pecock. 
While  this  documentary  evidence  is  not  conclusive,  never- 
theless the  inference  to  be  drawn  from  it  is  that  Pecock 's 
downfall  was  as  much  the  result  of  the  work  of  political 
foes  as  of  his  theological  aberrations. 

I  have  received  helpful  suggestions  and  a  great  deal 
of  consideration  from  many  throughout  my  course. 
Thanks  are  due,  and  here  sincerely  expressed  to  my 
bishop  the  Rt.  Rev.  M.  J.  Gallagher,  D.  D.,  Bishop  of 
Detroit,  to  whom  I  am  most  grateful  for  the  opportunities 
afforded  me;  to  Prof.  P.  J.  Lennox,  D.  Litt.  who  has 
been  very  generous  in  placing  his  scholarly  experience  at 
my  disposal;  to  my  former  tutor  Prof.  T.  Seccombe, 
M.  A.,  who  so  kindly  assisted  me  in  gaining  access  to 
the  various  MSS.  at  Oxford;  to  the  Rev.  Graham  Rey- 
nolds, B.  A.,  who  was  untiring  in  the  labour  of  manu- 
script reading,  and  to  the  officials  in  the  libraries  at  the 
Catholic  University  of  America,  at  Oxford  and  at  Rome 
who  were  so  courteous  and  helpful  with  their  assistance. 

EMMET  HANNICK. 


11 


CHAPTER  I 

REGINALD  PECOCK 

BIOGRAPHICAL,  SKETCH 

No  conclusive  documentary  evidence,  if  ever  it  did 
exist,  remains  which  reveals  the  origin  or  ending  of  that 
singular  and  pathetic  churchman  and  man  of  letters, 
Reginald  Pecock,  Bishop  of  Chichester,  champion  of 
orthodoxy  and  condemned  heretic.  His  parentage  and 
place  of  birth,  as  also  his  early  education,  remain  a 
matter  of  conjecture.  Wales,  according  to  Gascoigne  and 
Leland,  was  the  land  of  his  birth  and  that  of  his 
parentage.1  Pope  Eugenius,  in  elevating  him  to  the  See 
of  St.  Asaph,  states  in  his  bull  of  provision  that  he  was 
"presbyterum  Menevensis  diocesis,  in  artibus  magistrum 
ac  in  theologia  baccalaureum, "  etc/ 

One  might  conjecture  with  Wood  that  the  versatile 
scholar  of  mature  years  spent  his  boyhood  in  preparing 
himself  for  more  advanced  studies.  However,  we  find 
him  afterwards  attracting  attention  at  Oriel  College, 
Oxford,  for  on  October  30,  1417,  we  find  young  Pecock 
elected  to  a  fellowship  made  vacant  by  the  elevation  of 
Dr.  Garsdale  to  the  office  of  Provost  of  the  college.  The 
date  of  his  birth  must  have  been  about  the  last  years 
of  the  fourteenth  century.  Three  years  after  his  election 
to  a  fellowship  we  find  the  youthful  scholar  determining 
upon  the  vocation  in  which  he  was  destined  to  rise  to 
heights  of  fame  and  power,  that  would  in  the  hour  of 
failure  serve  only  to  intensify  the  humiliation  of  his  fall. 
On  December  21, 1420,  he  was  ordained  by  Dr.  Flemmyng, 
Bishop  of  Lincoln,  acolyte  and  subdeacon.  On  February 

1.  "Wallicus    origine"    Gascoigne    in    Hearne,    U.    S.    514,   516,    548. 
"Natione  Wallicus"  Insert.     Chron.,  in  Leland  Collect.,  torn,  ii,  p.  409; 
"relicta  Cambria,  patrio  solo"  Leland,  De  Scriptt.     Britt.  c566. 

2.  Reg.  Staff.  F15;  Wharton  MSS,  577,  p.  31.     The  bull  of  Eugenius 
IV  and  the   ' '  Juramentum  fidelitatis  episcopi  Assavensis"   are   still  pre- 
served at  Lambeth. 


2  EEGINALD  PECOCK 

15,  1421,  he  was  made  deacon,  and  on  March  8,  1421,  was 
raised  to  the  dignity  of  priest,  ordained  on  the  title  of 
his  college  fellowship.  Shortly  after  this  he  took  his 
degree  of  Bachelor  of  Divinity,  and  in  14255  he  was  in- 
cepted under  a  Cistercian  monk,  during  the  chancellor- 
ship of  Gascoigne. 

His  persistent  application  to  both  profane  and  sacred 
literature  could  have  no  other  results  than  success.  He 
won  not  merely  the  esteem  of  his  fellow  university  men, 
but  the  acclaim  of  his  enemies  as  well,  who  do  not  hesi- 
tate in  according  to  him  the  recognition  that  was  duly 
his.4  Of  far  greater  importance,  however,  was  the 
recognition  which  he  received  from  Humphrey  Plantage- 
net,  Duke  of  Gloucester.  At  this  time  Gloucester  was 
the  protector  of  the  kingdom  and  the  most  powerful 
patron  of  letters  in  England.  In  him  the  scholar  found 
a  sympathetic  and  enthusiastic  protector  and  supporter. 
The  library  which  he  founded  at  Oxford  still  remains  a 
monument  to  his  zeal  for  scholarship.  The  reputation 
which  the  young  priest  Pecock  enjoyed  amongst  his  fel- 
lows at  Oxford  did  not  escape  the  attention  of  the  Duke, 
for  we  find  him  called  up  to  court,  where,  as  Leland5  tells 
us,  he  soon  became  a  considerable  figure  and  was  of  such 
service  to  his  Prince  that  in  a  short  time  he  was  endowed 
with  ample  fortunes. 

In  1431,  and  in  all  likelihood  through  the  influence  of 
Duke  Humphrey,  he  was  made  Master  of  the  College  of 
St.  Spirit  and  St.  Mary,  Whittington  College,  London,  to 
which  the  rectory  of  St.  Michael  in  Riola  was  attached. 
Pecock  refers  to  his  residence  here  in  his  Eepressor. 


3.  Gascoigne 's  MS.  torn,  ii,  p.  597,  gives  1445.     This  date  cannot  be 
sustained  in  the  light  of  subsequent  events.     Lewis  observes  that  Pecock 
left  Oxford  about  1445.    Lewis's  Lives,  Pt.  II,  p.  3. 

4.  Leland,  Comment,  de  Scriptoribus  Britt. 

5.  Leland,  ibid. 


CHURCHMAN  AND  MAN  OF  LETTERS  3 

This  is  one  of  the  particulars  of  his  life — few  in  number, 
unfortunately — that  can  be  gleaned  from  his  works. 

Whether  or  not  Pecock  became  connected  with  the 
diocese  of  St.  David's  between  this  time  and  his  elevation 
to  the  See  of  St.  Asaph  is  difficult  to  determine,  since  the 
evidence  is  not  at  all  conclusive.6  At  all  events  the  next 
thirteen  years,  the  greater  part,  and  probably  all,  of 
which  were  spent  in  London,  were  to  be  fruitful  in  deter- 
mining the  interesting  career  of  the  future  Bishop  of 
Chichester.  It  was  during  these  years  that  the  Master 
of  Whittington  assiduously  applied  himself  to  a  great 
deal  of  study,  not  merely  of  an  academic  turn  but  prob- 
ably such  as  would  enable  him  to  minister  to  the  spiritual 
needs  of  the  flock  entrusted  to  his  care.  Pecock  had  the 
heart  of  a  real  shepherd.7  He  loved  his  flock  and  any 
disaffection  in  the  fold  pained  him.  Undoubtedly  at  this 
time  he  came  in  contact  with  individuals  under  the  in- 
fluence of  Wy  cliff  e's  teachings.  Although  the  king  had 
taken  a  strong  stand  for  the  suppression  of  the  Lollards 
there  still  remained  under  cover  many  disaffected  in- 
dividuals throughout  the  kingdom,  and  in  London  they 
were  in  considerable  numbers.5  They  boasted  in  the 
literature  scattered  in  public  places  that  they  were  a 


6.  Lewis,  Eev.  John,  The  Life  of  Reynold  Pecoclc,  S.  T.  P.,  Oxford, 
1822,   ch.   I,   p.    6,    says:      "It   seems   as   if    after  this,   Mr.   Pecock  was 
promoted  in  the  diocese  of  St.  David's  in  his  own  country,  since  in  the 
papal  bull  of  provision  of  Mr.  Pecock  to  the  bishopric  of  St.  Asaph,  he 
is  styled  a  Presbyter  or  Priest  of  the  diocese  of  St.  David's;   unless  this 
only  relates  to  his  being  a  native  of  that  part  of  the  country. ' ' 

7.  Pope  Calixtus  III,  in  a  rescript  to  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury 
for  Pecock 's  restoration  says :     f '  Sane  pervenit  nuper  ad  noticiam  nostram 
quod   venerabilis    frater   noster    Reginaldus    episcopus    Cicestrensis    dudum 
area  salutem  populi  sibi  commissi  solicitus  quosdam  Xpiane   religionis  et 
nonnullos  alios  contemplativam  vitam  concernentes  tarn  in  vulgari  anglico 
quam  in  linga  [sic]  latina  libellos  sive  tractatus  aut  quinternos  compilavit. 
Et    deinde    eis    accurate,    ut    conveniebat,    non    correctis    neque    emendatis, 
diversis    personis,    tarn    clericis,    quam    laicis    tradidit,    sperans    ut    exinde 
salutares  fructus  eisdem  personis  provenirent. "    Archiv.  Vatic.  Reg.  Vatic. 
Calixti  III,  vol.  462,  fol.  326-327. 

8.  Knighton  tells  us  ("Knighton  de  Event.  Angliae  c.  2663")   "that 
a  man  could  not  meet  two  people  on  the  road,  but  one  of  them  was  a 
disciple  of  Wycliffe.     .     .     .     For  that  they  always  pretended  in  all  their 


4  REGINALD  PECOCK 

body  of  a  hundred  thousand  men  at  least.  Blessed 
Thomas  More,  commenting  on  this  in  later  years,  main- 
tained that  this  noising  that  the  realm  was  full  of  heretics 
was  an  artifice  of  theirs  to  embolden  their  party  and 
intimidate  Catholics.5  The  discerning  of  the  numbers  of 
Lollards  at  this  time  is  not  to  our  purpose.  What  we  do 
know,  however,  on  the  testimony  of  Pecock  himself  is  that 
he  knew  in  a  very  intimate  way  individuals,  and  very 
prominent  individuals,  in  the  sect,  so  much  so  that  his 
knowledge  emboldened  him  to  challenge  these  individuals 
to  defend  themselves  against  very  grave  and  serious 
charges  made  by  him  against  their  character  and 
morals.16'  No  scholar  of  the  period  was  more  intimately 
acquainted  with  the  practices  and  teachings  of  the  Lol- 
lards, and  no  scholar  of  the  period  has  left  such  an  ex- 
haustive treatment  of  the  subject  as  we  find  in  Pecock 's 
various  treatises.  With  zealous  enthusiasm  he  cham- 
pioned the  cause  of  orthodoxy.  Those  that  had  strayed 
from  the  fold  he  sought  to  win  back  by  the  gentle  means 
of  argument.  If  only  they  could  come  to  the  proper 
understanding  of  the  orthodox  teachings,  the  greatest 
barrier  would  be  surmounted.  To  accomplish  this  a  ra- 
tional treatment  of  the  subject  in  the  language  of  the 
people  was  in  his  estimation  a  prime  requisite.  Undoubt- 
edly many  hours  of  the  thirteen  years  spent  in  London 
were  devoted  to  this  problem,  both  in  study  and  with  his 
pen.  Some  of  his  earliest  treatises  were  in  all  probability 
composed  at  this  time.  Gascoigne  tells  us  that  Pecock 
wrote  books  in  English  for  twenty  years.  Pope  Calixtus 
III  in  a  rescript  to  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  also 
mentions  this  fact.11 


discourses  a  great  respect  for  the  law  of  God.  .  .  .  By  which  means 
a  great  many  well  meaning  people  were  deluded,  and  brought  to  be  of 
their  sect,  lest  they  should  seem  to  be  enemies  to  the  law  of  God,  and  the 
Divine  precepts. 

9.  More,  Thos.,  English  Works,  p.  915,  coll.  2. 

10.  Pecock,  Eepressor  ch.  XVIII. 

11.  Archiv.  Vatic.  Beg.  Vatic.  Calixti  III,  vol.  462,  fol.  326-327. 


CHURCHMAN  AND  MAN  OF  LETTERS  5 

We  shall  see  more  of  these  writings  later.  Our 
present  purpose  is  to  follow  the  Master  of  Whittington 
to  those  loftier  heights  to  which  his  abilities  and  friendly 
influence  were  to  lead  him,  and  from  which  in  the  hour 
of  his  crowning,  he  was  to  be  ignominiously  cast  down, 
amidst  the  caustic  exultation  of  inferior  and  less  scrup- 
ulous individuals. 

The  Protector's  eye  was  upon  him.  Humphrey  of 
Gloucester  procured  for  his  brilliant  young1  protege  a 
bishopric.1^  John  Lowe,  Bishop  of  St.  Asaph,  was  trans- 
ferred to  the  See  of  Rochester  and  was  succeeded  in  St. 
Asaph  by  Reginald  Pecock.  The  bull  of  appointment 
raising  him  to  the  See  of  St.  Asaph  is  dated  April  22, 
1444,  in  the  reign  of  Eugenius  IV.  The  same  year,  June 
14,  he  was  consecrated  in  the  chapel  at  Croydon,  as  it 
appears  by  the  register  of  John  Stafford,  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury  and  Chancellor  of  England.  At  the  same 
time  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity  was  conferred 
upon  him,  in  all  likelihood  by  royal  mandate,  at  any  rate 
without  keeping  any  exercise  or  act. 

This  procedure  exasperated  the  puritanical  sensi- 
tiveness of  the  zealous  Gascoigne,  who  has  bequeathed  to 
us  a  lamentation15  worthy  of  his  narrowness.  The  value 
of  Gascoigne 's  evidence,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind,  is 
minimized  by  the  colouring  it  receives  from  Gascoigne 's 
temperament.  Like  Wycliffe,  he  had  been  disappointed 
in  his  ambitions.  A  good  man,  one  would  say,  whose  faults 
were  petty,  but  faults  making  him  less  a  man;  one  who 


12.  Bale  unqualifiedly  states  the  fact,  "~De  Scriptt.  Britt."  and  Bab- 
ington,  Eolls  Ser.  Pecock 's  Eepressor  vol.  I,  Intro.,  p.  XIII  says,  "  There  is 
no  reason  why  Lewis  should  question  the  fact." 

13.  Doctor    fuit   in   Oxonia   per   gratiam    absentandi:    numquam   enim 
respondit  alicui  doctor!  pro  forma  sua  ut  esset  doctor,  nee  aliquem  actum 
in  scholis  fecit  Oxonia,   postquam  incepit  in  theologia,   an  postea   fecerit 
nescitur  a  nobis.    Per  omnes  annos  a  die  inceptionis  suae  in  Oxonia  usque 
ad  diem  praesentis  scripturae  nullum  actum  fecit  scholasticum,  nee  legendo, 
nee    praedicando,    nee    disputando,    nee    determinando. "      Le    Neve,    Fasti 
Ecclesiae  Anglicanae ,  vol.  I,  pp.  71-72,  ed.  Hardy  T.  D.  1854.     Hardy,  Gas- 
coigne n.  s.  pp.  516-517. 


6  EEGINALD  PECOCK 

perceived  disaster  everywhere  principally  because  he  felt 
his  own  opportunities  passing,  and  saw  younger,  and  in 
some  cases,  less  worthy  men  placed  in  positions  of  honour 
and  responsibility. 

Three  years  after  his  elevation  to  the  See  of  'St. 
Asaph,  the  rising  young  prelate  preached  his  memorable 
sermon  at  Paul's  Cross.  It  was  the  year  1447,  a  por- 
tentous occasion,  and  a  never  to  be  forgotten  sermon.  It 
does  not  seem  possible  that  Pecock  was  not  cognizant  of 
the  popular  prejudice  of  the  time.  On  the  contrary,  it  is 
evident  that  he  was  quite  aware  of  the  conditions.  How- 
ever, the  seven  untimely  conclusions  which  he  expounded 
at  Paul's  Cross,  in  which  he  defended  the  non-preaching, 
and  non-residence  of  bishops,  are  in  their  temerity  and 
boldness  indicative  of  Pecock 's  most  vulnerable  point. 
Either  he  did  not  understand,  or  he  thought  himself  suf- 
ficiently strong  to  buffet  any  opposition ;  or,  feeling  that 
his  cause  was  just,  had  given  no  thought  to  eventualities. 
His  downfall  may  be  traced  to  his  famous  sermon.  In 
the  interval  greater  honours  were  to  be  his,  but  prejudice 
and  the  steady  silent  work  of  enemies  would  in  due  time 
accomplish  their  intent. 

FALL  AND  CONDEMNATION  OF  PECOCK. 

The  impression  made  by  his  Paul's  Cross  sermon, 
certainly,  could  never  have  been  foreseen  by  Pecock. 
That  opposition  would  be  forthcoming  from  the  enemies 
of  the  Church,  against  whom  the  sermon  was  prin- 
cipally directed,  was  naturally  to  be  expected,  but  that 
there  should  be  a  general  resentment  on  the  part  of  the 
bishops,  whose  champion  he  had  constituted  himself, 
could  not  have  been  anticipated  by  the  zealous  young 
prelate.  According  to  Gascoigne,  the  young  Bishop  of 
St.  Asaph  was  quite  contented  with  the  sermon  itself, 
and  was  confident  of  its  excellent  results.  He  was 
supposed  to  have  remarked  to  one  Master  Chapman, 


CHUECHMAN  AND  MAN  OF  LETTEES  7 

"That  the  consequence  of  his  opinion  would  be  that  no 
one  hereafter  would  speak  ill  of  the  Bishops,  or  murmur 
about  them,  since  by  him  it  was  made  evident  that 
Bishops  are  not  obligated  to  preach,  nor  to  do  the  other 
works  of  a  cure  of  souls,  as  children  and  the  common 
people  think;  but  it  is  their  office  and  business  to  over- 
see those  who  have  cures."14  That  his  championing  the 
cause  was  not  received  with  enthusiasm  by  the  bishops 
seems  evident  from  the  fact  that  he  found  it  necessary 
to  draw  up  in  Latin,  supposedly  for  the  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  certain  conclusions  in  vindication  of  his 
Paul's  Cross  sermon.15 

To  perpetuate  abuses  was  far  from  the  intention  of 
the  Bishop  of  St.  Asaph.  He,  of  all  his  contempor- 
aries, would  be  the  last  to  make  use  of  the  privileges 
that  he  had  defended  in  his  sermon.  He  had  preached 
on  numerous  occasions,  and  none  of  the  bishops  had 
exercised  their  office  more  frequently.  But  we  may  con- 
jecture that  it  was  his  indiscretion,  and  rather  sincere 
self-acclaiming,  that  nettled  their  lordships,  a  nettling 
that  showed  itself  to  Pecock's  detriment  in  the  hour  of 
trial. 

Other  enemies  of  the  zealous  type  of  Dr.  Gascoigne 
saw  disaster  in  the  conclusions  propounded  by  this 
rapidly  rising  court  prelate.  Gascoigne  was  not  in 
sympathy  with  the  measures  adopted  by  Archbishop 
Arundel  in  1408  to  offset  the  abuses  occasioned  by  the 
irresponsible  and  heretical  discourses  of  preachers.  The 
Archbishop  had  legislated  that  no  preacher^  be  permitted 
to  address  the  faithful  unless  he  be  first  approved  and 
licensed  by  the  bishop.16  This  measure  undoubtedly 
had  had  a  tendency  to  discourage  preaching,  and  abuses 
arose  from  its  being  neglected,  until  even  the  supporters 


14.  Gascoigne,  Dictionari/um  Theologicum. 

15.  "Abbreviatio  Regnaldi  Pecock"  (MS.  Bibl.  Bodl.  Oxon.  n.  117,  fol. 
11-13  saee.  XV).    Also  Babington's  edit,  of  the  "Represser." 

16.  Die.   Theol.  pars  prima. 


8  REGINALD  PECOCK 

of  the  Church  decried  "the  unpreaching  prelates"  and 
"dusty  pulpits."  Gascoigne  saw  in  it  nothing  but  dis- 
aster, and  was  firmly  convinced  that  the  strange  malady 
of  the  throat  with  which  the  Archbishop  was  afterwards 
seized,  was  nothing  other  than  a  visitation  from  Heaven 
for  his  stand  on  the  restricting  of  preachers.  It  was  in 
such  a  charged  atmosphere  of  overdone  zeal  that 
Eeginald  Pecock  fearlessly  enunciated  his  conclusions,  on 
the  face  of  which  was  to  be  seen  a  palliation  of  grave 
abuses. 

This  was  only  one  group  that  Pecock  had  the  mis- 
fortune to  stir  against  himself.  His  was  a  genius  for 
making  enemies,  especially  at  a  time  when  his  friends 
and  supporters  were  most  needed.  As  we  have  seen,  the 
Lollards  were  professedly  against  him,  if  for  no  other 
reason  than  that  he  was  a  bishop,  but  in  addition,  Pecock 
was  a  prelate  that  had  spent  years  in  confuting  their 
conclusions.  The  bishops  were  now  evidently  set  against 
him,  and  continued  to  be  until  the  end ;  the  monks,  in  all 
likelihood,  were  not  enthusiastic  over  his  disparaging  re- 
marks when  he  designated  them  "pulpit  bawlers;"  nor 
could  the  king  look  with  the  best  grace  upon  one  who,  in  a 
position  of  prominence,  did  not  hesitate  to  reprimand 
him  publicly,  and  especially  when  his  sovereign  was 
labouring  under  difficulties.  However,  apart  from  all 
this,  there  is  another  reason  not  sufficiently  set  forth: 
one  of  greater  importance  than  these  animosities  aroused 
through  indiscretions;  one  more  intimately  working  to 
the  destruction  of  Pecock  than  even  his  heresies,  and  it 
is  this,  that  Reginald  Pecock  had  in  some  way  stirred  up 
the  suspicion  and  displeasure  of  the  reigning  party. 

The  direct  evidence  in  support  of  the  contention  that 
Pecock  had  fallen  in  grace  with  the  court,  or  in  some 
manner  had,  in  the  opinion  of  the  authorities,  placed 
himself  amongst  those  who  were  inimical  to  the  interests 
of  the  reigning  powers,  and  was  therefore  an  undesirable, 
and  one  to  be  feared,  is  not  abundant.  The  inferences 


CHUKCHMAN  AND  MAN  OF  LETTEKS  9 

te  be  drawn  from  the  evidence  at  our  disposal,  however, 
are  numerous  and  striking  in  support  of  our  contention. 
Many  of  the  subsequent  events  in  his  life  will  have  no 
bearing  or  import  unless  viewed  in  the  light  of  such  an 
hypothesis.  The  insatiable  and  unrelenting  thirst  for 
our  author's  destruction  was  the  result  of  powerful 
prejudice  and  enmities ;  factors  more  powerful  than  the 
subdued  Lollards ;  more  powerful  than  the  bishops,  and 
more  powerful  and  unforgiving  than  the  men  of  the 
Gascoigne  type. 

While  the  Paul's  Cross  sermon  paved  the  way  for 
his  ultimate  fall,  still  his  position  and  influence  was 
powerful  enough  in  1450,  at  which  time  he  was  translated 
and  elevated  to  the  important  bishopric  of  Chichester.17 
Gascoigne  attributes  this  promotion  to  the  influence  of 
the  Duke  of  Suffolk  and  Walter  Hart,  Bishop  of  Nor- 
wich. To  the  See  of  St.  Asaph,  Humphrey  of  Gloucester 
had  assisted  him,  and  now,  strange  as  it  may  seem, 
Gloucester's  great  enemy,  the  crafty  Duke  of  Suffolk, 
assisted  in  his  elevation  to  Chichester.  Grave  suspicions 
were  still  whispered  about,  and  Suffolk,  the  Queen's 
favorite,  was  responsible  in  the  minds  of  many  for  his 
part  in  the  murder  of  the  Duke  of  Gloucester.  In  1448 
Pecock's  friend  and  protector,  Gloucester,  fell  a  victim, 
not  only  to  the  Queen's  envy  and  insatiable  desire  to  rule, 
but  also  to  the  ambitious  aspirings  of  her  favorite, 
Suffolk.  It  is  very  reasonable  to  suppose  that  when  in 
1449  Adam  Moleyns,  Bishop  of  Chichester,  was  set  upon 
and  murdered15  by  the  hired  ruffians  of  the  Duke  of 
York's  friends,  the  Duke  of  Suffolk  lost  no  opportunity 
or  time  in  elevating  to  Chichester,  Gloucester's  very 
intimate  friend.  This  would  at  least  tend  to  offset  sus- 
picion. Moreover,  it  is  possible  that  the  Queen  and 


17.  Archiv.  Vatic.  Reg.  Lateranen.  Nic.  V,  vol.  465,  fol.  222-225,  also 
Nic.  V.  Eeg.  Stafford,  p.  35. 

18.  Summary  of  English  Chronicles. 


10  REGINALD  PECOCK 

'Suffolk  had  come  to  realize  that  Gloucester  and  his 
friends  were,  after  all,  true  friends  of  the  court  and  the 
realm. 

Certainly  Pecock  was  not  a  sycophant.  It  is  difficult 
to  ascertain  his  motives  in  reprimanding  the  king,  or  in 
speaking  disparagingly  of  the  "sowdiers  forto  fighte 
and  slee  for  spoile  and  money.  "19  This  is  very  clear, 
however,  that  Pecock  was  incensed  at  something,  and 
did  not  hesitate  to  give  expression  to  his  resentment. 
Whether  or  not  Pecock  had  grown  very  active  in  his 
standing. against  the  ruling  powers  will  never  be  known. 
In  1456,  it  is  clear  that  he  committed  his  last  serious  in- 
discretion. His  letter  to  Thomas  Canynge,  Mayor  of 
London,  was  to  be  his  undoing.  The  exact  contents  of 
this  epistle  are  unknown,  but  the  Mayor  thought  it  of 
sufficient  importance  to  send  it  to  the  King,  before  whom 
and  his  lords  it  was  read.  All  concerned  were  greatly 
moved  by  it,  for  it  was  reported  to  have  contained  * '  sug- 
gestions of  a  change  of  faith,  popular  tumults,  together 
with  scandalous  imputations  upon  the  great  lords  of  the 
realm." 

It  is  interesting  to  note  with  what  promptness  the 
lords  temporal  responded  to  this  attack  upon  their  noble 
persons.  Suddenly,  they  are  impelled  with  a  burning 
zeal  to  don  their  armour  in  defence  of  orthodoxy,  and 
this  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  delinquencies  in  doctrinal 
matters,  upon  which  they  based  their  accusations,  had 
been  in  circulation  since  the  publication  of  the  Represser 
in  1449.  This  zeal  for  orthodoxy  was,  undoubtedly,  noth- 
ing else  than  a  cloak  to  conceal  their  real  designs  of 
personal  revenge. 

In  1457  the  clamour  that  went  up  against  Pecock 
was  so  great,  Gascoigne  tells  us,  that,  about  the  feast  of 
St.  Martin,  he  was,  by  the  King's  command,  expelled 
from  the  House  of  Lords  in  London  and  forbidden  to 


19.  Represser,  Part  V,  Ch.  XI. 


CHUKCHMAN  AND  MAN  or  LETTEKS  11 

enter  the  King's  presence,  by  the  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury. The  temporal  lords  were  so  aroused  against  him 
that  they  refused  to  proceed  to  business,  so  long  as  he 
remained  in  the  House.  At  the  same  time,  in  this  same 
assemblage  of  temporal  lords  and  bishops,  it  was  decided 
that  the  works  of  the  author  of  the  Represser  should  be 
examined.  In  submitting  the  works  of  his  pen,  Bishop 
Pecock  requested  that  he  might  be  judged  by  his  peers. 
He  disavowed  all  responsibility  for  any  of  his  works  that 
had  been  circulated  earlier  than  three  years  previous, 
for,  as  he  stated,  some  of  them  had  been  intended  for 
circulation  among  his  friends,  and,  contrary  to  his  in- 
tention and  wishes,  had  been  prematurely  published  be- 
fore receiving  his  final  correction  and  his  approbation. 
Nine  of  his  works  were  submitted  to  twenty-four  doctors, 
who  reported  to  Canterbury  and  three  other  bishops  ap- 
pointed to  hear  his  case,  that  they  contained  many  errors. 
A  humorous  incident  is  recorded  as  having  occurred  in 
the  course  of  the  examination — George  Nevill,  Bishop- 
elect  of  Exeter,  a  youth  of  twenty-four  years,  whose  ap- 
pointment to  the  bishopric  was  a  papal  scandal,  assailed 
the  learned  Ordinary  of  Chichester  with  the  following 
admonition:  "My  Lord  of  Chichester,  God,  of  His  just 
judgment,  wills  that  you  undergo  these  indignities  be- 
cause you  most  unworthily  reproved,  and  denied  to  be 
true,  the  writings  of  St.  Jerome,  St.  Augustine  and  St. 
Gregory  the  Pope,  as  well  as  the  w^orks  of  other  saints. ' ' 
It  is  stated  that  Nevill  was  not  among  the  appointed 
judges,  but  only  an  onlooker.  Pecock  replied,  "I  am 
sorry  I  have  so  written,  for  I  was  not  sufficiently  well 
informed."*0 

Pecock  must  have  failed  to  sense  the  approaching 
storm.  Whether  it  was  an  unhealthy  sense  of  security,  or 
lack  of  the  proper  understanding  of  his  enemies,  and  the 
extremes  to  which  they  were  prepared  to  go  in  order  to 
rid  themselves  of  his  dangerous  person,  is  difficult  to  say. 

20.  Rogers,  J.  T.,  Loci  e  Libro  Veritatum,  p.  213. 


12  EEGINALD  PECOCK 

At  all  events  the  storm  breaking  about  him  found  him 
unprepared.  No  avenue  was  left  unexplored  down  which 
a  thread  of  error  might  be  traced ;  no  benefit  of  the  doubt 
was  given  him,  but,  on  the  contrary,  the  most  extreme 
construction  was  placed  upon  his  intentions,  and  his 
errors  were  grossly  exaggerated.  As  we  shall  see  more 
at  length  later  in  this  work,  he  had  but  one  ideal,  and  that 
was  the  defence  of  orthodoxy.  His  criticisms  of  popular 
abuses  were  sound  and  commendable ;  his  denial  of  the 
Apostles7  authorship  of  the  Creed  was  not  a  denial  of 
any  defined  article  in  the  deposit  of  faith,  and  while  his 
disparaging  remarks  about  the  authority  of  the  Fathers 
might  be  construed  as  flippant,  they  could  never  be  the 
foundation  for  an  accusation  of  heresy.  He  did,  however, 
tread  on  dangerous  ground,  and  really  became  heretical 
in  exalting  the  authority  of  reason  over  that  of  Scripture. 
It  must  be  understood,  however,  that  his  heterodoxy  in 
this  matter  has  been  flagrantly  magnified,  and  that  a 
great  portion  of  his  teaching  is  nothing  else  than  ortho- 
dox teaching  of  the  Church. 

On  November  the  twenty-first,  in  the  presence  of  the 
Archbishop,  Bourchier,  and  a.  number  of  other  bishops 
and  doctors,  our  author  repudiated  various  conclusions, 
supposedly  heretical,  in  his  works.  On  the  twenty-eighth 
of  the  same  month,  in  the  presence  of  an  assembly  of 
bishops,  doctors  and  laymen  gathered  at  Westminster,^1 
judgment  was  meted  out  to  the  condemned  prelate.  The 
Archbishop  addressed  him  thus : 

"Dear  brother,  Master  Reginald,  since  all  heretics 
are  blinded  by  the  light  of  their  own  understandings, 
and  will  not  own  the  perverse  obstinacy  of  their  own  con- 
clusions, we  shall  not  dispute  with  you  in  many  words 
(for  we  see  that  you  abound  more  in  talk  than  in  reason- 


21.  Gascoigne  says  Lambeth.     See  Hearne  at  end  of  Henningford  vol. 
ii,  p.  493  (Whethamstede). 


'CHUKCHMAN  AND  MAN  OF  LETTERS  13 

ing),  but  briefly  show  you  that  you  have  manifestly  pre- 
sumed to  contravene  the  sayings  of  more  authentic  doc- 
tors."^ 

The  Archbishop,  after  dwelling  upon  certain  of  the 
most  outstanding  errors,  proceeded  with  the  sentence, 
which  was  the  alternative  of  recanting,  or  being  deliv- 
ered, after  degradation,  to  the  secular  arm  as  fuel  for 
the  fire/5  To  proceed  with  such  extreme  measures 
against  a  bishop  of  the  Church  was  so  unusual,  that  one 
cannot  help  but  feel  that  this  was  merely  a  threat,  and 
that  even  in  the  event  of  a  refusal  to  recant,  the  extreme 
sentence  never  would  have  been  carried  out.  Certainly, 
there  is  copious  evidence*4  to  demonstrate  that  in  the 
case  of  individuals  of  less  importance,  this  extremity  was 
resorted  to  only  after  every  expedient  had  been  exhausted 
in  an  endeavour  to  persuade  the  heretic.  This  is  par- 
ticularly noteworthy,  since  the  state  and  the  community 
were  greatly  disturbed,  and  even  threatened  by  the 
advent  of  the  Lollard  heresy,  which,  with  some  justice, 
came  to  be  associated  in  both  the  popular  and  official 
mir-d  as  synonymous  with  disloyalty  and  treason/5 

The  decision  of  the  assembly  was  received  by  Pecock 
in  silence.  In  those  brief  moments,  his  active  intelligence 
was  wrestling  with  a  momentous  decision.  Some  of  the 
very  few  commentators,  in  fact  the  majority,  thrusting 
their  own  personal  view  to  the  front  rather  than  a  judg- 
ment based  on  facts  of  our  author's  life,  see  in  his  final 
procedure  weakness  which  they  strive  to  palliate,  and  a 
grovelling  abasement  of  his  otherwise  magnificent  intel- 
ligence. These  are  nothing  more  than  pet,  stereotyped 
phrases,  catchv  and  easily  mistaken  for  intelligent  criti- 
cism. Pecock  did  the  obvious  thing.  Had  he  acted  other- 
wise, his  principles  regarding  authority,  set  forth  in  the 
Represser  and  Boole  of  Faith,  could  be  naught  but  incon- 

22.  Gairdner,  Lollardy  and  the  Reformation,  vol.  1,  p.  234. 

23.  Babington  »s  Introd.  XII-XIV. 

24.  Gairdner,  ibid.  vol.  1,  pp.  1-2,  sq. 

25.  This  was  especially  true  after  Wat  Tyler's  insurrection. 


14  REGINALD  PECOCK 

sistencies.  In  truth,  he  may  have  had  little  regard  for 
the  intelligence  and  disinterestedness  of  his  judges,  still 
they  represented  authority  to  him,  until  he  could  appeal 
higher.  His  reply  to  the  pronouncement  is  quite  under- 
standable. ' '  I  am  in  a  strait  betwixt  two, ' '  he  said,  '  '  and 
hesitate  in  despair  as  to  what  I  shall  choose.  If  I  defend 
my  opinions  and  positions,  I  shall  be  burned  to  death ;  if 
•  I  do  not,  I  shall  be  a  byword  and  reproach.  Yet,  it  is 
better  to  incur  the  taunts  of  the  people  than  to  forsake 
the  law  of  faith,  and  to  depart  after  death  into  hell-fire 
and  the  place  of  torment.  I  choose,  therefore,  to  make  an 
abjuration,  and  intend,  for  the  future,  so  to  live  that  no 
suspicion  shall  arise  against  me  all  the  days  of  my  life." 
He  then  made  a  confession  of  his  errors  and  an  abjura- 
tion of  his  heresies.  This  abjuration  was  repeated 
solemnly  on  December  third  at  Lambeth ;  and  on  Sunday 
the  fourth,  probably  at  Paul's  Cross  before  a  great  con- 
course of  people,  he  repudiated  seven  particular  heresies 
that  he  acknowledged  to  be  his.  They  were: 

I.  That  it  is  not  necessary  to  salvation  to  believe  that 
Jesus  Christ  after  death  descended  into  hell; 

II.  Nor  to  believe  in  the  Holy  Ghost ; 
III.  Nor  to  believe  in  the  Holy  Catholic  Church ; 
IV.  Nor  in  the  Communion  of  Saints ; 

V.  That  the  universal  Church  may  err  in  things  which 
are  of  faith; 

VI.  That  it  is  not  necessary  to  salvation  to  believe  and 
hold  that  what  a  General  Council  of  the  whole 
Church  has  ordained,  approves,  or  determines  in 
favour  of  faith  and  for  the  health  of  souls,  is  to  be 
approved  and  held  by  all  the  faithful  of  Christ;  and 
that  what  it  reproves  and  determines  or  condemns 
to  be  contrary  to  the  Catholic  faith  or  its  good 
morals  is  to  be  considered  by  them  as  reproved  and 
condemned ; 


CHURCHMAN  AND  MAN  OF  LETTERS  15 

VII.  (According  to  one  MS.)  It  is  lawful  for  everyone 
to  understand  Holy  Scripture  in  a  literal  sense; 
nor  is  anyone  bound  by  necessity  of  salvation  to  ad- 
here to  any  other  sense. 

This  last  article  is  not  to  be  found  in  most  MSS., 
and  seems  doubtful/6 

Certainly,  from  Pecock 's  admissions  in  these  par- 
ticular errors,  arises  a  problematical  situation,  the  solu- 
tion of  which  is  no  longer  possible.  Conjecture  would 
be  no  solution.  What  may  have  been  his  motives,  or 
what  may  have  prompted  him  to  such  an  admission,  is 
even  difficult  to  conjecture.  From  the  content  of  his 
works  it  could  never  be  concluded  that  he  denied  the 
existence  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  His  explicit  profession  in 
this  article  so  frequently  recurring  in  his  Repressor  and 
Donet27  would  seem  to  leave  no  doubt  in  the  matter.  As 
to  several  of  the  other  articles — and  this  we  will  dwell  on 
later  in  this  work — it  seems  quite  evident  that  his  denial 
was  purely  hypothetical.  However,  the  difficulty  is  en- 
hanced in  the  light  of  the  evidence  from  the  rescript  of 
Pope  Calixtus  III  to  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury. 
From  this  document  it  is  clear  that  Pecock,  in  his  appeal 
to  Pope  Calixtus,  made  the  same  admission  that  he  had 
erred  in  the  aforesaid  matters/5 

The  figure  of  that  outstanding  divine  of  the  fifteenth 
century  is  a  pathetic  one.  We  close  the  book  on  the  last 
sad  chapter  of  his  tragic  end  with  a  sigh.  The  little 
weaknesses  of  vanity  that  he  occasionally  betrays  we  are 
ready  to  overlook,  since  in  his  guilelessness  he  thought 
not  to  conceal  them.  Like  a  broken  reed  he  lay  shattered 
in  the  midst  of  the  storm  that  overwhelmed  him.  How 
like  the  sincerity  and  impetuosity  of  another  who  went 
forth  into  the  night  and  wept !  Pecock  stood  before  his 
judges,  a  subdued  individual,  broken  in  spirit,  with  the 

26.  Babington,  ibid.  p.  xiix,  note;  iii  note. 

27.  Ibid,  note  1. 

28.  Archiv.  Vatic.  Calixti  III,  vol.  462,  fol.  326-327. 


16  REGINALD  PECOCK 

dream  of  a  lifetime  fleeing  like  the  mist  of  the  morn;  a 
dream  fathered  in  sincerity  and  personal  disinterested- 
ness. With  the  conviction  that  his  aberrations  had  gone 
beyond  his  first  principles  and  intent,  at  the  same  time 
with  the  realization  that  an  unsympathetic  audience  were 
actuated  by  other  motives  than  the  cloak  of  zeal  which 
they  feigned  and  prepared  to  distort  even  the  truth  itself 
in  their  thirst  for  his  destruction,  is  it  to  be  marveled 
at,  that  he  should  betray  in  his  demeanour  the  conviction 
of  his  heart  that  all  is  vanity  ?  Humbly  he  acknowledged 
that  he  had  walked  in  darkness  and  was  now  brought  to 
the  light  of  truth.  His  one  wish  was  that  no  man  give 
faith  to  his  pernicious  doctrines,  nor  read,  nor  keep  his 
writings,  but  submit  them  to  "my  Lord  of  Canterbury" 
or  his  commissaries.  With  his  own  hand  he  delivered  to 
the  executioner  three  folios  and  eleven  quartos  of  his 
writings  to  be  consumed  by  the  fire.  As  the  flames  arose 
above  his  efforts  of  years,  the  children  of  his  mind,  he 
said  aloud,  "My  pride  and  presumption  have  led  me 
into  these  troubles  and  reproaches. "  Gascoigne  venom- 
ously adds  that  if  he  had  gone  down  to  the  fire  himself, 
the  people  would  have  thrown  him  into  it.29 

The  shout  of  triumph  that  went  up  over  his  fall  re- 
flects upon  the  scoffers  rather  than  upon  Pecock.  It 
was  vicious  and  petty.  Doggerel  verses,  punning  upon 
his  name  and  exulting  in  his  ignominy,  sang  of  the  Pea- 
cock that  had  been  stripped  of  his  feathers  and  become 
an  owl;  and  Abbot  Whethamstede  wrote  of  the  impious 
poisoner  who  was  compelled  to  spew  out  his  venom  in 
public  so  that  he  should  never  dare  to  reimbibe  it30 

The  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  sent  copies  of  Pe- 
cock's  revocation  and  recantation  to  all  the  bishops  of 
the  province,  requiring  them  to  publish  these  through- 
out the  various  dioceses.  He  also  commanded  those 
"who  had  books  of  diverse  works,  not  only  of  Brother 

29.  Lib.  Verit.  215-216. 

30.  Whet.,  u.  s.,  501;  Gairdner  op.  cit.,  vol.  I,  p.  236. 


CnuECHMAisr  AND  MAN  OF  LETTEES  17 

Reginald,  Bishop  of  Chichester,  written  in  the  vulgar 
tongue,  but  some  others  by  the  same  brother,51  that  with- 
in fifteen  days  after  the  admonition,  they  give  up  these 
books  under  pain  of  greater  excommunication. " 

The  University  of  Oxford  lost  no  time  in  placing  its 
seal  of  disapproval  upon  the  condemned  works.  In  fact 
it  had  anticipated  the  command  of  Canterbury,  for  on 
November  17,  1457,  a  fortnight  before  the  burning  of  the 
books  at  Paul's  Cross,  the  Chancellor,  Master  Thomas 
Chandler,  together  with  the  scholars  of  the  University 
marched  in  solemn  procession  to  Carfax,  where  they  burnt 
all  of  his  works  in  their  possession.  The  King  and  his 
zealots  had  a  clause  added  to  the  statutes  of  King's  Col- 
lege, Oxford,  which  had  been  founded  by  his  majesty 
about  fourteen  years  before.  The  substance  of  the 
amending  clause  was  to  this  effect :  that  a  scholar  enter- 
ing the  college  should,  after  a  year's  probation,  take  an 
oath  that  he  would  never  in  his  lifetime  favour  the  con- 
demned opinions  of  John  WyclifTe  and  Reginald  Pecock 
or  those  of  any  other  heretic.** 

John  Bury,  a  friar  of  the  Order  of  the  Friars  Here- 
mites  of  St.  Augustine  in  the  province  of  Canterbury,  was 
commissioned  by  the  Archbishop  to  write  against  the 
conclusions  maintained  by  the  author  of  the  Repressor. 
This  work  of  Bury  entitled  Gladius  Salomonis  is  in  Latin 
and  is  still  extant  in  the  Bodleian  at  Oxford.55  Bury  sets 
forth  thirteen  Catholic  conclusions  against  Pecock 's  thir- 
teen heretical  conclusions  contained  in  the  first  book  of 
his  Repressor. 

Pecock  in  the  meantime  appealed  his  case  to  Rome. 
"Was  it  before  he  was  deprived  of  his  see,  or  after,  that 
this  appeal  was  made?  Lewis54  contends  that  he  was 
still "  acknowledged  Bishop  of  Cliichester  four  months 

31.  Reg.  Geo.  Nevil,  Ep.  Exon.   fol.   38. 

32.  Wood,  History  and  Antiquities  of  the   University  of  Oxford,  ed. 
Gluteh,  vol.  1,  p.  223. 

33.  Bibl.  Bodl.  Oxon.  u,  108,  4  to  aff.  63,  sec.  XV. 

34.  Lewis,  op.  cit.,  p.  174. 


18  REGINALD  PECOCK 

after  his  abjuration  at  Lambeth  and  Paul's  Cross.  This 
is*  not  possible  in  the  light  of  the  evidence  found  in  the 
correspondence  in  the  Vatican  Archives.  From  this  it  is 
quite  evident  that  Pecock  lost  no  time  in  making  his  ap- 
peal. In  a  rescript  of  Pope  Calixtus  IIF5  to  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury  elated  June,  1458,  it  is  explicitly 
stated  that  Pecock  had  been  deprived  and  had  meted  out 
to  him  all  the  other  censures.  It  hardly  seems  possible 
that,  in  those  days  of  slow  travel,  had  Pecock  waited 
four  months  after  his  abjuration,  that  is,  until  April, 
1458,  his  case  could  have  been  carried  to  Rome,  tried,  and 
returned  before  the  middle  of  June,  1458. 

Calixtus  III  was  evidently  very  favourably  impressed 
by  Pecock 's  appeal.  Of  all  those  who  were  concerned 
with  the  case  of  the  Bishop  of  Chichester,  the  Pope  gives 
evidence  of  the  broadest  and  most  human  understanding. 
The  condemned  man  apparently  had  been  very  frank  in 
his  self -accusation,  and  the  Pope,  while  not  minimizing 
the  unhappy  phases  of  the  situation,  readily  grasped  the 
lofty  motives  that  actuated  our  author.  He  says  in  the 
rescript : 

"Sane  pervenit  nuper  ad  noticiam  nostram,  quod 
venerabilis  frater  noster,  Reginaldus  episcopus 
Cicestrensis  dudum  area  salutem  populi  sibi  com- 
missi  solicitus  quosdam  Xpiane  religionis  et  non 
nullos  alios  contemplativam  vitam  concernentes,  tarn 
in  vulgari  anglico  quam  in  ling  a  (sic)  latina  libellos 
sive  tractates  aut  quinternos  compilavit.  Et  deinde 
eis  accurate,  u\t  conveniebat  non  correctis  neque 
emendatis,  diversis  personis,  tarn  clericis,  quam  laicis* 
tradidit,  sperans  ut  exinde  salutares  fructus  eisdem 
personis  provenirent.  Verum*  dictus  episcopus  spe 
sua  frustratus  remansit.  Nam-  cum  a  quibusdam 
assereretur  libellos  sive  tractatus  aut  quinternos 
huiusmodi  plura  continere  que  fidei  Catholice  ad- 

35.  Archiv.  Vatic.  Beg.  Vatic.  Calixti  III,  vol.  462,  fol.  326-327. 


CHURCHMAN  AND  MAN  OF  LETTERS  19 

versa  et  contraria  existebant,  prefatum  episcopum 
co ram  te  evocari  fecisti.  libellos,  tract  atus  et  quin- 
ternos  ipsos  iam  viginti  quatuor  annis  elapsis  per 
eum  editos  exhibiturum.  quiquidem  episcopus  obed- 
ientie  filius  libellos  ipsos  sub  certis  protestationibus, 
videlicet',  quod  si  aliquq  in  eis  continerentur,  que 
prelibate  fidei  Catholice  contraria  forent,  ilia  tenere 
non  volebat,  nee  pertinaciter  defender e  sed  ea  pro 
nullis  et  infectis  liabebat,  cor  am  te  r  ever  enter  ex- 
M)uit.  at  que  produxit,  tuque  libellos  ipsos  certis  in 
Tlieologia  magistris!  et  in  utroque  jure-  doctoribus 
exam inandos  commisisti. ' '3G 

A  great  part  of  the  rescript  is  taken  up  with  the 
discussion  of  the  errors,  the  trial  and  the  condemnation. 
From  this  it  appears  that  the  Archbishop  had  already 
commissioned  one,  John  Btokes,  archdeacon  of  Ely,  to 
absolve  the  condemned  Bishop  from  all  irregularities  and 
censures  incurred,  and  to  restore  him  to  the  enjoyment 
of  his  benefice.  The'  Pope's  intention  in  sending  the 
rescript  was  to  make  regular  the  procedure  and  to  supply 
whatever  may  have  been  wanting  either  in  jurisdiction 
or  procedure.  The  rescript  continues  thus: 

"Quern  etiam  nos  auctoritate  apostolica  et  simili 
scientia  absolvimus  et  cum  eo  dispensamus  eumque 
restituimus,  reponimus  et  rehab Hit amus ,  et  infamie 
macula  ni  abolemus  per  presentes  sup  pi  end  o  etiam 
omnes  defectus  tarn  juris  quam  facti,  si  qui  forsan 
in  absolutions  dispensations  rehabilitatione  et  resti- 
tutione  arcnidiaconi  hujusmodi  intervenissent." 

He  continues, 

"Et  insuper  eidem  Reginaldo  episcopo  Cices- 
tren.  Efficacis  defensionis  subsidio  assistens  facias 


36.  Arcliiv.  Vatic.  R«g.  Vatic.  Calixti  III,  vol.  462,  fol.  326-327.  We 
have  quoted  at  length,  for  it  supports  our  contention  that  Pecock's  fall 
was  due  to  political  causes,  rather  than  his  lapse  into  heresy. 


20  REGINALD  PECOCK 

eum  pacifica  dicte  ecclesie  Cicestren.  Possessione 
gaudere,  et  non  permittas  ipsum  premissorum  oc- 
casions in  iudicio  vel  extra,  publice  vet  occulte, 
directe  vel  indirecte,  aut  quovis  alio  quesito  colore 
quomodolibet  molest  are  aut  ei  iniurias  vel  offensas 
irrogari."37 

The  bulls  of  Calixtus  III  restoring  Pecock  to  the  See 
of  Chichester  were  not  well  received  in  England  by  his 
enemies.  The  Archbishop  made  representations  to  the 
King,  in  which  was  set  forth  that  Reginald  Pecock,  Min- 
ister of  the  See  of  Chichester,  had  been  detected  and 
convicted  of  certain  errors  and  heresies  and  had  abjured 
and  taken  his  penance;  that  he  obtained  surreptitiously 
from  the  Holy  Father  bulls  of  restoration  contrary  to  the 
laws  and  "statutes  provisors"  and  to  the  great  con- 
tempt and  derogation  of  his  Majesty's  prerogative  and 
estate  royal.'55, 39 

Unfortunately  for  Pecock,  Pope  Calixtus  III  passed 
to  his  eternal  reward  August  6,  1458.  He  was  a  man 
remarkable  for  his  mortified  life,  firmness  of  purpose, 
and  prudence  in  the  face  of  difficulties.  It  was  by  his 
direction  that  the  revision  of  the  trial  of  Joan  of  Arc  was 
carried  out,  and  the  sentence  of  the  first  court  quashed, 
thus  vindicating  the  innocence  of  the  Maid  of  Orleans.46* 

Calixtus  III  was  succeeded  by  the  famous  humanist, 
E^ea  Silvio  De  Piccolomini,  as  Pius  II,  August  19,  1458. 
Was  there  any  connection  between  the  elevation  of  a  new 
pope  and  the  reopening  of  Pecock 's  case  at  Rome?  Be 
this  as  it  may,  a  mandate  from  the  King,  dated  Septem- 
ber 17,  1458,  at  St.  Albans  was  issued  to  the  Bishop  of 
St.  Asaph  and  to  Robert  Stillington,  Canon  of  York,  to 
call  together  as  many  Doctors  in  Theology  and  Law  as 

37.  Archiv.  Vatic.  Reg.  Vatic.  Ca.  ixi  III,  vol.  462,  fol.  326-327. 

38.  It  is  a  point  of  interest  to  observe  that  the  Archbishop  himself, 
together  with  two  of  his  assessors,  Kempe  and  Lowe,  were  appointed  by 
Papal  provision. 

39.  Certificat.   super  mandate  regio   in  causa  heretici  Pecock,  MS.  e 
coll.  E.  R.  Ep.  Petroburg. 

40.  Catholic  Encyclopedia,  vol.  Ill,  Calixtus. 


CHURCHMAN  AND  MAN  or  LETTERS  21 

they  deemed  necessary  to  make  a  study  of  the  effect  and 
the  contents  of  the  said  bulls  (Calixtus  III).  Further- 
more, they  were  to  certify  to  his  Majesty  the  result  of 
their  investigations.^ 

The  findings  of  the  committee  were: 

I.  "That  his  Highness  should  send  an  ambas- 
sador to  the  pope,  who  should  represent  to  him  the 

.Bishop's  pernicious  heresies,  and  the  dangers  ac- 
cruing to  the  Church  from  them;  and  should  desire 
that  he  should  cassate  his  bull  of  restitution,  and  ap- 
point to  the  see  a  pious  and  learned  Bishop  to  be 
nominated  by  the  King. 

II.  That  since  by  the  process  and  recantation  of 
Pecock,  they  think  he  Avas  infected  with  heresy  long 
before  lie  was  translated  to  the  See  of  Chichester, 
that  translation  was  ipso  facto  null;  and  so  it  was 
lawful  for  the  King,  and  expedient  for  the  Church, 
that  the  possessions  of  the  'See,  which  they  call  "  tem- 
poralities, "    should   immediately  be   seized   by   the 
King,  and  detained  by  him  until  a  catholic  successor 
be  appointed. M^ 

Whether  or  not  this  communication  reached  the  suc- 
cessor of  Pope  Calixtus  is  of  no  importance.  But  this 
is  certain,  that  its  contents,  together  with  an  appeal  for 
his  deprivation,  were  pent  to  Pius  II.  In  this  appeal,  it 
is  quite  evident  that  his  accusers  had  recourse  to  a  very 
decisive  measure.  Pecock  was  accused  of  having  con- 
cealed certain  of  his  works  in  both  Latin  and  English; 
to  have  feigned  repentance  at  his  trial;  and  finally  to 
have  relapsed  into  heresy.  It  hardly  seems  probable, 
oven  though  he  were  feigning  and  insincere,  that  he 
would  be  so  rash  in  the  midst  of  his  case  pending  at  Rome 
so  to  compromise  himself  as  to  manifest  by  word  or 
action  any  ?uch  grounds  for  accusation  by  his  enemies. 
There  is  no  evidence,  apart  from  the  accusation  made  to 


41.  E   Collect.  White  Ep.   Petroburg. 

42.  Lewis,  op.  cit.,  Part  II,  p.  177. 


22  .  REGINALD  PECOCK 

Pius  II  by  Pecoek's  enemies,  to  the  effect  that  he  actually 
did  relapse  into  heresy.  Pius  II  was,  however,  greatly 
agitated  by  the  contents  of  the  appeal,  for  in  a  rescript 
dated  April,  1459,  to  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  and 
the  Bishop  of  London,  he  manifests  great  concern  about 
the  matter,  and  commands  that  immediate  steps  be  taken 
to  investigate  thoroughly  the  accusations;  search  out  the 
works  that  had  been  concealed  by  Pecock,  and  if  the  ac- 
cused should  be  found  guilty,  he  was  to  be  sent  to  Rome, 
or  the  ecclesiastical  and  civil  authorities  of  England  were 
to  proceed  against  him,  together  with  all  his  associates 
irrespective  of  position  or  standing.  The  guilty  ones 
were  to  have  meted  out  to  them  all  the  canonical  punish- 
ments, such  as  degradation  from  office,  deprivation  and 
excommunication. 

That  the  Pope  was  deeply  impressed,  and  unfavor- 
ably toward  Pecock  is  seen  from  the  manner  in  which 
he  speaks  of  him  where  he  says : 

"Tamen  idem,  Reginaldus  protervio  et  neplwrio 
spiritu  instigatws,  et  pristinarum  tenebrarum  cecitate 
obscessus,  etiam  postquam  ipse  penitens,  ut  vide- 
batur,  et  indigmws  regimini  et  administrationi  dicte 
ecclesie  Cice-stren.,  sen  omni  iuri  sibi  in  illis,  vel  ad 
ea  quomodolibet  competenti,  sponte  et  libere  ces- 
serat,  nonnullos  ex  predictis  libris  manifestam  liere- 
sim  continent es,  in  latino  ac  etiam  in  dicto  ydiomate, 
a  se  com,positos  et  per  eum  minime  tune  patefactos, 
ut  perpetuo  extare  possent  occultare,  ac  sic  ficte 
penitens  in  errorem  pri-stinum,  quern  simulate 
abiuraverat,  relabi,  et  tamquam  nepharius  et  incor- 
rigibilis  servus,  quedam  alia  que  contra  ortliodoxam 
fidem  sunt,  et  contra  ea,  que  sacrosancta  tenet  Ec- 
clesia  mackinari  minime  formidavit,  propter  que 
omnia  maximum  imminet  periculum,  ne  dicte  liereses 
taliter  in  ipso  regno  disseminate  magnorum  pariant 
foment  a  scandalorum,  et  pluriwm-  inoenia  subvert  ant 
ct  ammarum  pericula  generent."43 

43.  Archiv.  Vatic.  Reg.  Vatic.  Pii  II,  vol.  499,  fol.  63. 


CHURCHMAN  AND  MAN  OF  LETTERS  23 

In  the  bull  appointing  Pecock 's  successor  to  the  See 
of  Chichester,  Pius  affirms  the  guilt  of  heresy  of  the  for- 
mer incumbent  of  the  See.  He  also  states  that  all  the 
rights  to  the  See  had  been  given  up  by  Pecock.  However, 
there  is  a  problem  arising  from  the  discrepancy  in  dates 
of  the  various  documents.  The  bull  appointing  a  suc- 
cessor in  Chichester  is  dated  January,  1458.  Pius  II, 
however,  did  not  ascend  the  throne  until  August  19,  1458. 
The  rescript  to  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  and  the 
Bishop  of  London,  in  which  a  thorough  investigation  is 
demanded,  is  dated  April,  1459.  Was  Pecock 's  successor 
appointed  before  the  investigation!  Supposing  the  ap- 
pointment to  have  been  January,  1459,  the  discrepancy 
being  due  to  the  carelessness  of  a  scribe,  it  appears 
even  then  that  the  appointment  was  made  three  months 
before  the  investigation  was  ordered. 

Pecock 's  career  is  overshadowed  with  the  myster- 
ious. At  almost  every  turn  there  is  a  lack  of  evidence, 
especially  facts  about  his  own  person.  From  the  facts 
at  our  disposal,  one  cannot  but  surmise  that  something 
other  than  the  lofty  motives  of  defending  orthodoxy  was 
actuating  his  enemies.  For  twenty  years  he  remained 
unmolested  in  his  errors  until  he  clashed  with  the  civil 
political  party.  From  that  time  until  his  downfall  this 
mysterious  power  worked,  cloaked  under  a  disguise. 
Pecock  passes  from  the  stage.  His  cause  was  lost. 
Mystery  shrouds  his  passing  as  it  shadowed  his  advent. 
We  know  that  he  was  sent  to  the  abbey  of  Thorney  on 
the  Isle  of  Thorney  in  Cambridgeshire.  Provision  was 
made  for  him,  some  say  an  ample  provision,  others  say 
meagre.  How  long  he  remained  here  would  be  mere  con- 
jecture. He  passes  without  applause  of  contemporaries, 
with  his  errors  and  his  rashness,  but  with  his  lofty  mo- 
tives .  .  .  and,  we  think,  misunderstood. 


24  REGINALD  PECOCK 


CHAPTER  II 

LOLLABDY,  ITS   CAUSES  REMOTE  AND  PROXIMATE 

We  must  now  see  something  of  those  various  influ- 
ences that  contributed  to  the  change  so  noticeable  in 
every  phase  of  English  life  in  the  year  1447.  Similar 
forces  were,  and  had  been,  at  work  in  every  country  of 
Europe,  and  these  same  forces,  at  least  in  their  effects, 
were  to  continue  until  what  is  called  modern  Europe 
and  modern  civilization  should  be  evolved. 

We  are  not  concerned,  however,  with  the  continent 
nor  with  modern  civilization,  but  approach  the  various 
contributory  factors  only  in  so  far  as  it  seems  to  us  that 
they  were  responsible  in  bringing  about  the  religious 
and  social  conditions,  to  the  alleviation  of  which  Reginald 
Pecock  had  dedicated  the  greater  part  of  his  life  and 
talents. 

Transition  periods,  whether  social,  political,  or  relig- 
ious, are  not  circumscribed.  Our  computations  of  them 
must  be  relative  and  not  absolute.  Historians  can  define, 
for  the  most  part,  only  proximately,  the  limits  of  any 
given  period  in  history.  Phenomena  that  we  observe 
on  the  horizon  of  history,  like  a  beautiful  sunset  or  the 
breaking  of  a  tumultuous  storm,  are  the  result  of  a  whole 
series  of  circumstances  so  remote  and  minute  that  it  is 
impossible  to  exhaust  them.  This  fact,  together  with 
new  discoveries  and  change  of  viewpoint,  is  what  gives 
occasion  for  the  rewriting  of  history.  Moreover,  it  is 
for  these  very  reasons  that  the  writing  of  history  is 
difficult,  and  especially  the  history  of  transition  periods. 

Reginald  Pecock,  the  subject  of  our  inquiry,  belongs 
to  one  of  these  transition  periods.  That  outstanding 
ecclesiastic  of  the  mid-fifteenth  century  can  be  under- 
stood only  when  viewed  in  relation  to  his  own  times ;  and 


CHUKCHMAN  AND  MAN  or  LETTERS  25 

his  own  times,  if  isolated  from  the  history  of  his  country 
for  at  least  a  century  preceding,  remain  in  the  realm 
of  conjecture.  His  own  parents  must  have  lived  in  the 
trying  times  of  the  Great  Pestilence.  In  his  boyhood 
he  might  have  heard  the  men  and  women  of  the  genera- 
tion just  preceding  him,  tell  stirring  tales  of  the  upris- 
ings under  the  leadership  of  Ball  and  Tyler;  and,  in 
later  years,  when  he  had  attained  to  a  position  of  author- 
ity and  responsibility,  it  was  brought  home  to  him  very 
strikingly  what  evil  results  and  havoc  religious  dissen- 
sion was  begetting  amongst  his  own  flock  and  throughout 
large  sections  of  the  kingdom.  A  scholar,  a  zealous 
churchman,  fearless  unto  rashness,  with  a  consciousness 
of  his  great  responsibility,  he  entered  the  lists  in  defence 
of  orthodoxy  and  to  decry  the  evils  of  his  day. 

The  widespread  and  far-reaching  consequences  of 
the  social  unrest  and  religious  dissension  could  not  have 
been  entirely  due  to  the  age  in  which  they  manifested 
themselves.  Predisposing  causes  there  must  have  been, 
even  back  in  the  distant  past.  No  one  cause  can  account 
for  them ;  nor  can  we  reach  out  and  lay  our  finger  upon 
any  individual,  or  group  of  individuals,  or  upon  any  one 
event,  or  series  of  events,  and  say  absolutely  this  indi- 
vidual or  this  happening  is  responsible  for  the  unhappy 
state  of  affairs  against  which  Pecock  thrust  his  strength, 
We  must  go  back  one  hundred  years,  or  better,  to  the 
accession  of  Edward  II.  To  confine  ourselves  to  this 
period  is  somewhat  arbitrary,  but  to  a  great  extent  justi- 
fied by  the  very  nature  of  the  period.  Undoubtedly,  one 
might  trace  the  course  to  other  predisposing  causes  in 
the  preceding  century,  but  the  period  I  have  designated 
seems  to  be  the  most  obvious  turning  point  in  the  history 
of  events.  It  seems  the  beginning  of  a  new  era,  an  era 
of  turmoil  and  strife,  of  wars  and  rumours  of  wars,  and 
all  the  evils  accompanying  wars :  famine,  pestilence, 
taxation,  depression,  poverty.  It  was  to  be  an  era  of 
intrigue  and  selfishness,  and  of  small  men. 


26  REGINALD  PECOCK 

Transition  periods  seem  to  work  according  to  invar- 
iable rule.  In  social  and  political  life,  particularly  when 
there  is  the  passing  of  an  old  order,  these  changes  are 
never  accomplished  peaceably.  A  new  era  is  observable 
with  the  accession  of  Edward  II.  So  full  of  contrasts  is 
the  change  that  the  student  of  history  may  not  ignore 
it.  We  pass  from  an  age  of  greatness  to  an  age  of 
mediocrity;  from  an  age  of  strong  men  both  in  church 
and  state,  men  of  a  strength  and  stature  to  set  aside 
personal  advantage  in  the  interest  of  God  and  their 
fellowmen,  to  an  age  of  small  men.  We  leave  behind 
the  thirteenth  century  which  Bishop  Stubbs1  very  aptly 
calls  the  golden  age  of  English  churchmanship,  the  age 
that  produced  one  Simon  among  the  earls,  produced 
among  the  bishops  Stephen  Langton,  St.  Edmund, 
Grosseteste  and  the  Cantilupes.  The  Charter  of  Runny- 
mede  was  drawn  under  Langston's  eye;  Grosseteste  was 
the  friend  and  adviser  of  the  constitutional  opposition; 
Berksted,  the  episcopal  member  of  the  electoral  trium- 
virate, was  the  pupil  of  St.  Eichard  of  Chichester;  St. 
Edmond  of  Canterbury  was  the  adviser  who  compelled 
the  first  banishment  of  the  aliens ;  St.  Thomas  of  Canti- 
lupe  was  the  chancellor  of  the  baronial  regency.  These 
men,  all  without  exception,  had  the  greatest  love  and 
esteem  for  the  authority  of  the  See  of  Eome,  but  their 
respect  and  obedience  were  rational. 

This  age  of  giants  both  in  church  and  state  was 
followed  by  an  age  of  inferior  men.  Edward  II  stands 
in  marked  contrast  to  his  great  father,  Edward  I.  Often 
the  advisers  whom  he  drew  about  him  were  of  his  own 
inferior  calibre.  He  was  neither  an  accomplished  knight 
nor  a  great  commander/  Lacking  in  the  kingly  ideal,  he 
had  neither  kingly  pride  nor  sense  of  duty ;  an  idler  with- 
out piety,  he  had  no  high  aims,  and  no  policy  but  the 
cunning  of  unscrupulous  selfishness.  He  was  often  de- 


1.  Stubbs,  Constitutional  Hist,  of  England,  p.  313,  1887. 

2.  Mon.  Malmesb.  p.  136;  Cron.  Ed.  I,  II,  ii,  192. 


CHURCHMAN  AND  MAN  OP  LETTERS  27 

scribed  as  worthless.  His  faults  were  quite  as  much 
negative  as  positive;  his  character  was  not  so  much 
vicious  as  devoid  of  virtue.  With  the  pursuit  of  amuse- 
ment the  one  aim  of  his  life,  it  can  be  readily  ascertained 
what  a  puppet  such  a  character  would  be  in  the  hands 
of  an  unscrupulous  court. 

These  circumstances,  beyond  doubt,  play  an  impor- 
tant role  in  determining  the  tenor  of  the  incoming  era 
which  contrasts  so  clearly  with  the  period  just  passed. 
Such  influences  do  not  begin  to  show  their  effects  until 
the  age  of  decline  sets  in.  Despotism  thwarted,  chaf- 
ing under  the  restraint  of  constitutionalism  and  wounded 
in  pride,  sought  advice  from  favourites,  rather  than 
from  duly  constituted  guides.  Then  it  was  that  the 
weaklings,  the  sycophants,  the  ministers  of  the  king's 
pleasures,  and  the  companions  of  his  follies,  became  a 
degrading  influence  and  a  menace  to  society.  To  this 
one  influence  must  be  attributed  a  goodly  portion  of  the 
responsibility  for  the  great  evils  of  the  times.  Had  it 
ceased  with  the  passing  of  one  weak  monarch,  the  even- 
tual storm  that  broke  upon  the  whole  realm  might  have 
been  averted,  but  it  continued  until  the  social  fabric  of 
England  was  on  the  verge  of  collapse.  "It  is  to  the 
action  of  the  court, "  says  Bishop  Stubbs/  "that  we  must 
attribute  the  extravagance,  the  dishonesty,  the  immor- 
ality, private,  social  and  political  of  the  period;  it  is  to 
the  antagonism  between  the  court  and  the  administration, 
between  the  curia  and  the  camera,  or  in  modern  language, 
the  court  and  the  cabinet,  that  many  of  the  constitutional 
quarrels  of  the  century  are  owing;  it  is  to  the  unpopu- 
larity of  the  court  that  the  social — as  distinct  from  the 
constitutional — disturbances  are  chiefly  due,  and  to  the 
selfish  isolation  of  the  court  that  much  of  the  national 
discontent  is  to  be  traced.".  He  goes  on  to  say,  "A  body 
of  courtiers,  greedy  of  wealth,  greedy  of  land  and  titles, 
careless  of  the  royal  reputation  and  national  credit,  con- 


3.  Stubbs,  ibid.  p.   325. 


28  EEGIXALD  PECOCK 

stantly  working  to  obtain  office  for  the  heads  of  one  or  the 
other  of  its  factions,  using  office  for  the  enrichment  of 
its  own  members,  contained  in  itself  all  the  germs  of 
future  trouble.  In  rivalry  with  the  baronage  which  col- 
lectively looked  upon  the  courtiers  as  deserters  from  its 
own  body,  although  the  barons  individually,  or  the  several 
factions  among  them,  were  ready  enough  to  play  the  part 
in  their  turn;  in  rivalry  with  the  clergy  whose  political 
power  they  begrudged  and  whose  religious  influence  they 
uniformly  thwarted;  in  rivalry  with  the  ministry  which, 
if  it  were  composed  of  honest  men,  was  in  hostility  to  the 
court  as  a  whole,  or,  if  it  were  itself  the  creation  of  one- 
half  of  the  court,  was  in  hostility  to  the  other."4 

Bishop  Stubbs  gives  a  very  fair  statement  in  his 
summing  up  of  the  situation.  However,  it  must  be  borne 
in  mind  that  we  must  not  speak  in  superlatives  and  foist 
the  whole  blame  for  the  evils  of  the  day  upon  weak  kings 
and  unscrupulous  courts.  There  were  extenuating  cir- 
cumstances in  this  period  over  which  no  one  had  any 
control,  such  as  famine  and  plague,  and  especially  the 
great  Black  Death.  The  social  and  religious  conditions 
of  the  period  cannot  be  treated  adequately  without  taking 
these  into  consideration.  However,  we  cannot  ignore 
that  the  Church  both  in  England  and  abroad  was  passing 
through  a  serious  crisis.  The  " exile"  of  the  papacy  at 
Avignon  under  French  influence — and  France  was  Eng- 
land's implacable  enemy;  the  incessant  wars  with  Scot- 
land and  France,  draining  the  treasury  and  crushing  the 
people  with  unbearable  burdens  of  taxation;  the  Great 
Schism  in  the  papacy ;  the  interminable  struggle  between 
the  temporal  and  spiritual  power;  all  these,  in  order  to 
have  a  proper  prospective  of  the  situation,  must  be  taken 
into  consideration. 

The  great  change  and  decline  so  obvious  in  the  reign 
of  Edward  II  unfortunately  did  not  pass  with  him.  Evils 
then  set  afoot  grew  more  serious  with  time.  Plotting, 


4.  Stubbs,  ibid.,  p.  326. 


CHUKCHMAN  AND  MAN  OF  LETTEKS  29 

treachery  and  internecine  warfare  continued  throughout 
the  period  of  which  we  speak.  Eevolution  and  regicide 
destroyed  two  kings  and  placed  upon  the  throne  a 
dynasty  which  was  never  sure  of  its  position;  foreign 
wars  continued,  followed  by  famine  and  disease;  daily 
the  people  grew  more  restless  and  helpless  under  the 
burden,  until  it  needed  only  the  socialistic  and  revolu- 
tionary principles  of  John  Ball  and  John  Wycliffe  to 
apply  the  torch  that  ignited  a  conflagration  which 
threatened  to  sweep  before  it  all  semblance  of  law  and 
order.  England  had  had  weak  and  despotic  kings  before, 
but  she  had  strong  men  amongst  the  nobility,  and  strong 
men  amongst  the  churchmen.  A  few  Langtons,  Grosse- 
teste,  or  St.  Edmunds  might  have  tided  over  the  crisis. 
The  unfortunate  and  the  depressed  would  have  had 
shepherds  worthy  of  their  confidence. 

Those  of  us  who  have  a  filial  interest  in  Mother 
Church  cannot,  in  the  face  of  the  record  of  human  weak- 
ness shown  in  certain  prominent  individuals  of  the 
Church  of  this  age,  rise  to  very  sublime  heights  of 
enthusiasm  over  this  period.  Not  England  alone,  but  all 
Christendom,  felt  the  effects  of  the  Avignon  experiment 
and  the  confusion  of  the  Great  Schism.  To  gloss  over 
such  glaring  historical  facts  is  neither  scientific  nor 
moral.  God  does  not  want  our  lies.  In  the  first  volume 
of  the  Councils  the  learned  Labbe  remarks,  "Non  tali 
auxilio  nee  defensoribus  istis  indiget  Ecclesia."  How 
presumptuous,  inconsistent,  absurd  and  immoral  that  in- 
dividual must  seem  who  would  attempt  to  defend  truth 
by  untruth.  Newman's5  remarks  are  quite  to  the  point 
when  he  observes  thus,  "the  endemic  perrenial  fidget 
which  possesses  us  about  giving  scandal:  facts  are 
omitted  in  great  histories,  or  glosses  are  put  on  mem- 
orable acts,  because  they  are  thought  to  be  not  edifying ; 
whereas,  of  all  scandals,  such  omission,  such  glosses 
are  the  greatest."  Leo  XIII,  that  unique  churchman, 


5.  Newman,  Historical  Sketches,  ii,  p.  231. 


30  REGINALD  PECOCK 

statesman  and  scholar  of  the  nineteenth  century,  gave  a 
new  impetus  and  direction  to  research  and  the  writing 
of  Church  History  when,  in  his  encylical,  he  gave  the 
following  comforting  advice:  "The  Historian  will  be  all 
the  better  able  to  manifest  the  Church's  divine  origin, 
so  far  transcending  all  that  is  purely  terrestrial  and 
natural,  in  proportion  as  he  is  faithful  to  keep  back 
nothing  of  the  trials  which  she  has  had  to  experience 
in  the  course  of  the  ages  through  the  fraility  of  her 
children,  and  sometimes  even  of  her  ministers.  Studied 
in  this  fashion,  the  history  of  the  Church  itself  affords 
a  splendid  and  conclusive  proof  of  the  truth  and  the 
divinity  of  Christianity.'^ 

The  religious  unrest,  to  which  we  have  already  allu- 
ded, was  not  restricted  to  England  alone.  It  was  not  the 
case  of  the  branch  of  a  great  tree  paling  under  a  wither- 
ing blight,  but  rather  it  was  the  case  of  a  great  tree  having 
its  vigour  taxed  to  the  utmost  under  the  clinging  attack 
of  parasitical  growths.  The  Mother  Church  was  sick 
and  her  impaired  efficiency  reacted  upon  every  member 
of  the  great  family.  The  "exile"  of  the  Papacy  at 
Avignon,  which  finally  ended  with  the  Great  Schism  in  the 
Papacy  itself,  is  certainly  accountable,  not  wholly,  but 
to  a  great  extent,  for  a  great  many  evils  of  the  time. 

These  evils,  against  which  the  real  reformers  raised 
their  voices  of  warning,  can  be  attributed  to  a  category 
of  proximate  causes,  such  as  we  have  mentioned  before, 
but  remotely  and  finally  they  are  traceable  to  causes  that 
are  intellectual.  One  is  struck  by  the  ascendency  of 
the  dilettante  in  the  theological  schools.  There  was  a 
great  deal  of  mediocrity  among  the  theologians  who  seem 
to  have  been  concentrating  upon  the  fantastic  and  the 
novel  in  religion.  As  an  example  of  this,  we  see  in  the 
writings  of  the  times  the  most  extreme  and  antithetical 
views  set  forth  on  the  question  of  pontifical  authority, 


6.  "Encyclical  to  the  Archbishops,  Bishops,  and  Clergy  of  France," 
1899. 


CHUECHMAN  AND  MAN  OF  LETTEKS  31 

its  foundation,  rights  and  privileges.  On  the  one  hand, 
we  find  such  man  as  the  Dominican  John  of  Paris  attack- 
ing the  temporal  power  of  the  Church,  while  Marsilius  of 
Padua  attempts  to  undermine  the  doctrine  of  the  spiri- 
tual authority  of  the  Pope,  the  primacy  of  St.  Peter,  the 
power  of  the  Keys.  The  Englishman,  William  of  Occam, 
and  some  of  his  revolutionist  Franciscans,  go  farther  in 
their  advice  to  Louis  of  Bavaria  in  that  unhappy  struggle 
with  John  XXII;  " Defend  yourself, "  they  advise,  "with 
the  sword  and  we  will  come  to  your  aid  with  the  pen." 
Such  "thunder"  crashing  from  the  lips  of  adventurers 
like  Robert  Knolles,  Arnaud  de  Cervale  or  Raymond  de 
Turenne  would  have  a  note  of  consistency,  but  falling 
from  the  lips  of  churchmen,  it  manifests  at  least  a  con- 
fused notion  of  the  papacy.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
reactionary  teachings  against  these  excesses  went  to  the 
other  extreme,  and  were  as  disastrous  for  the  discipline 
of  the  Church  as  any  doctrine  ever  expounded.  Augus- 
tinus,  the  general  of  the  Augustinians,  ascribed  to  the 
successor  of  St.  Peter  a  wholly  exaggerated  power  and 
authority;  his  power  and  authority,  even  over  all  things 
temporal,  were  unlimited.  "The  Sovereign  Pontiff," 
he  said,  "himself  does  not  know  how  far  his  supreme 
authority  can  extend."7  We  see  one  faction,  who  were 
revolutionists,  fawning  upon  the  temporal  monarch, 
while  the  other  extremists  flattered  the  spiritual  sover- 
eign. Chaos  reigned  in  the  schools.  In  the  midst  of 
these  doctrinal  monstrosities,  a  true  idea  of  the  Church, 
her  head,  her  magisterium,  and  her  rights,  was  obscured 
in  the  eager  pursuit  of  the  novel  thing  in  doctrine.  In 
the  light  of  this,  the  events  at  Rome  and  Fondi,  the 
crisis  of  1378,  and  the  double  election  which  resulted, 
can  be  better  understood.  These  events  were  not  the 
original  causes  of  the  Schism,  but  only  the  occasion  for 
the  free  development,  extension  and  continuation  of 
latent  errors.  The  cardinal  electors  and  the  principal 


7.  Summa  de  potestate  ecclesiae   ad  Joannem  xxii,  q.  1,   a.   1. 


32  REGINALD  PECOCK 

upholders  of  each  of  the  two  obediences  were  imbued 
with  ideas  taken  from  the  great  schools.  On  the  other 
hand  also,  the  jurists  by  whom  the  princes  were  sur- 
rounded, the  "milites  legum"  who  inspired  their  coun- 
sels, had  listened  to  the  pernicious  maxims  of  Peter 
Dubois  and  Marsilius  of  Padua.  They  were  sure  of  a 
favorable  hearing  when,  with  theories  of  autocracy,  they 
flattered  the  interests  of  kings. 

The  fantastic  teachings  of  the  schools,  so  effective 
in  occasioning  the  Great  Schism  as  well  as  the  evils  of 
the  Avignon  administration,  undoubtedly  reacted  upon 
the  morals  and  the  ecclesiastical  discipline  of  the  time. 
A  liberal  latitude  is  allowed  to  the  various  schools  in 
thrashing  out  points  of  doctrine  still  open  to  discussion. 
Thus  it  has  ever  been.  But  it  is  only  when  these  opinions, 
held  by  the  different  schools,  are  taken  from  the  lecture 
hall  and  heralded  broadcast,  that  they  become  a  menace. 
It  is  amazing  to  find  among  the  writings  of  this  time 
so  many  theological  propositions  that  border  on  the  fan- 
tastic. The  budding  young  doctor  of  the  school  seems  to 
have  taken  a  particular  delight  in  going  to  the  extreme 
edge  of  orthodoxy,  and  often  under  the  guise  of  a 
hypothesis,  to  have  wandered  far  beyond  it.  The  au- 
thority of  the  pope  was  one  of  the  favourite  fields  in 
which  they  indulged  their  inclination  to  scholastic  gym- 
nastics. Many  of  the  errors  since  condemned  had  their 
counter  part,  if  not  their  origin,  in  some  of  these  very 
theses  expended  by  young  men  in  their  search  for  novelty 
rather  than  truth. 

We  now  turn  from  the  erroneous  principles  enunci- 
ated at  the  time  to  observe  some  of  their  effects.  With 
the  centre  and  head  of  Christendom  so  disturbed,  cer- 
tainly we  can  look  for  abuses  and  abnormal  happenings. 
Eeal  reformers,  from  cloister,  altar,  and  the  world,  raised 
a  warning  cry,  but  the  cry  was  unheeded  until  almost 
irreparable  evil  had  been  accomplished.  Like  St.  Ber- 


CHURCHMAN  AND  MAN  or  LETTERS  33 

nard*  at  an  earlier  date,  St.  Catherine  of  Siena,  that 
most  extraordinary  woman,  did  not  hesitate  to  point  out 
the  abuses  that  existed  in  the  very  court  of  the  pope. 
She  was  disappointed  in  the  Eoman  court;  expecting  to 
find  there  a  paradise  of  virtue,  she  laments  that  she 
found  there  an  odour  of  hell.5  The  great  Catholic  poet, 
Dante,  "theologus  Dantes,"  does  not  spare  even  those  in 
the  loftiest  positions,  but  confines  them  to  the  lowest 
depths,  and  with  all  the  vehemence  of  his  magnificent 
genius  lashes  the  abuses  and  corruptions  of  his  day.  To 
the  Donation  of  Constantine,  which  he  mistakenly 
thought  genuine,  he  attributed  all  the  evils  that  had  come 
upon  the  Church.^  Petrarch  calls  Avignon  the  "Baby- 
lon of  the  Apocalypse,"  and  blackens  it  with  all  the 
exaggeration  of  a  poetical  mind.  The  anonymous  author 
of  the  "Songe  du  Vergier"  re-echoes  all  the  hatred  of 
the  lawyers  against  ecclesiastics,  and  all  the  attacks  of 
free-thinkers  upon  clerical  morality.11  The  complaint 
of  St.  Antoninus,  at  a  later  date,  is  far  more  important. 
It  sounded  like  the  warning  and  resentment  of  a  Grosse- 
teste  or  a  St.  Edmund  at  an  earlier  period  in  England.1^ 
All  evidence  must  be  weighed  dispassionately;  var- 
ious circumstances  that  modify  the  value  of  evidence  left 
behind  must  be  considered.  Poets  are  not  historians, 
nor  have  they  the  mental  mould  of  the  historian.  Then 
too,  we  know  that  it  is  not  an  uncommon  happening  in 
the  history  of  literature,  for  a  sensitive  writer  when  in 
a  satiric  mood  to  vent  the  venom  of  his  spleen  upon  a 
class,  when,  in  reality,  only  an  individual  or  a  group  of 
a  class  have  enraged  him.  There  is  also  that  category 
of  laymen,  the  puritanical  laymen,  who  wax  wroth  at 
a  moment's  notice,  burning  with  a  holy  interest  in  things 

8.  St.  Bernard,  De  consideration  lib.  i,  iii  &  iv. 

9.  Bollard,   Acta  Sanctorum   Aprilis,  t.   iii,   p.   891.     Pastor,   TListoire 
des  Papes,  ii,  p.  135. 

10.  Dante  Inferno,  xix  and  xxvii;  Purgat.,  vi;  Paradiso,  xxii  and  xxvii. 
Also  cf.  Ozanam,  Dante  et  la  philosophic  Cathol. 

11.  Somnium  viridarii  (ed.  Goldast,  1614)  t.  ii.  p.  61,  ff. 

12.  Chron.,  p.  iii,  c.  i. 


34  REGINALD  PECOCK 

religious,  but  in  reality,  nursing  the  fire  of  revenge  for 
having  been  retarded  on  the  road  to  honour  or  to  some 
financial  goal.  They  are  found  in  every  age. 

Undoubtedly  there  were  abuses.  Justice  demands, 
however,  that  we  recognize  the  worth  of  a  vast  army  of 
individuals  in  every  walk  of  life,  about  whom  history  is 
silent.  Chaucer  tells  us  about  the  Pardoner,  but  he  also 
tells  us  about  the  faithful  Parish  Priest.  History  records 
the  work  of  the  pardoner,  it  is  unusual  and  exceptional ; 
but  the  usual,  the  expected,  slips  noiselessly  into  oblivion. 
Is  not  this  silence  and  oblivion  a  litany  of  praise  in  itself  f 

The  general  disorder  that  prevailed  within  the 
Church  became  more  chaotic  in  the  midst  of  the  confusion 
that  reigned  without.  International  bands  of  mercenary 
ruffiians,  with  fire  and  sword,  threw  the  greater  part  of 
Europe  into  confusion.  Under  the  leadership  of  such 
adventurers  as  Robert  Knolles,  John  Hawkwood,  Arnaud 
de  Cervale,  Raymond  de  Turenne,  Eustach  d'Auberchi- 
court,  Geoffrey  de  Boucicault,  puppets  of  rival  kings, 
monasteries  and  episcopal  residences  were  fired  and  pil- 
laged; chapters  and  estates  were  reduced  to  pauperism. 
In  the  confusion,  bishops  fled  from  their  posts  to  Paris 
or  Avignon;  ecclesiastical  discipline  in  the  monasteries 
and  dioceses  became  relaxed,  and  the  ecclesiastical  au- 
thorities became  helpless,  as  can  be  seen  from  the  replies 
of  the  popes  to  the  appeals  made  to  them.  Disorganiza- 
tion is  perpetuated  and  intensified.  In  vain  do  good 
bishops  protest ;  and  futile  are  the  entreaties  and  threats 
issued  by  the  general  chapters  of  th'e  religious  orders.15 

The  widespread  decline  and  mediocrity  is  seen  from 
the  absence  of  that  real  churchmanship  and  statesman- 
ship which  has  generally  characterized  the  reign  of  eccle- 
siastical superiors  throughout  the  ages.  The  spirit  of 
faction  had  got  hold  of  the  Church.  Bishoprics  and 
other  responsible  posts  were  looked  upon  as  rewards  for 


13.  Martene  and  Durand,  Thesaurus,  t  iv,  p.  1206,  ff. 


CHURCHMAN  AND' MAN  OF  LETTERS  35 

the  proteges  of  some  factional  leader.  Often  sons,  and 
sometimes  the  unworthy  sons,  of  noble  families  were 
thrust  upon  the  Church.  The  choice  of  such  individuals 
was  often  not  based  upon  the  qualities  of  the  individual 
or  the  needs  of  the  position,  but  too  often  was  made  for 
no  other  purpose  than  to  enjoy  the  pecuniary  rewards  of 
the  position  or  the  influence  accruing  to  the  faction  from 
the  lofty  post. 

Paradoxical  as  it  may  seem,  it  is  nevertheless  true, 
that  the  Church  suffered  from  the  exercise  of  legitimate 
rights.  "Annates,"  "reservations"  and  "expecta- 
tions '  'u  are  rightfully  within  the  sphere  of  ecclesiastical 
jurisdiction.  Grave  evils  and  serious  harm  to  the 
Church  arose  from  the  abuse  of  these  rights.  These 
abuses  were  not  confined  to  the  lesser  superiors  but  were 
sometimes  to  be  found  among  certain  of  the  popes.  This 
was  particularly  true  of  the  Avignon  .popes.  The  extrav- 
agant and  worldly-minded  court  at  Avignon  was  often  in 
need  of  finances  that  were  not  forthcoming  from  the  nor- 
mal channels  of  revenue.  As  a  result,  we  find  bishoprics, 
abbeys,  parishes,  priories  and  capitular  appointments 
seized  and  handed  over  to  laymen,  some  of  whom  were 
not  even  in  the  Church;  or  given  to  nephews  who  were 
profligates,  or  to  lay  prelates  who  held  a  plurality  of 
benefices  illegally.  To  ascertain  the  inestimable  harm 
that  followed  this  period  for  generations,  one  has  simply 
to  turn  over  the  pages  of  history.  Pastor  suggests  these 
dire  results  in  his  observations,  where  he  says  in  part, 
"the  financial  system  adopted  at  Avignon  contributed 
more  than  is  generally  supposed,  to  destroy  the  prestige 
of  the  Papacy,  and  singularly  facilitated  the  work  of  our 
foes."** 


14.  D.  V.  Berliere,  ' '  Inventaire  analytique  des  Libri  obligationum  et 
resolutionum    des    Archives    Vaticanes,    1904    (Paris,    Champion),    Preface 
V-XXV,   and   also   Inventaire   analytique   des   "Diversa   Cameralia"   1906, 
ibid.    Samaran;    Mollet,    La    Fiscalite    pontificate    en    France,    an.    XIVe, 
siecle  (Paris,  1904). 

15.  Pastor,  ibid.,  t.  i,  p.  87. 


36  REGINALD  PECOCK 

Thus  far,  we  have  a  general  view  of  the  principal 
evils  that  contributed  to  the  unsettling  of  social  and 
moral  conditions  in  Europe  as  a  whole,  during  the  four- 
teenth, and  first  part  of  the  fifteenth  centuries.  The 
treatment  is  not  in  any  way  detailed  or  exhaustive,  but  is 
sufficient  for  our  purpose. 

Let  us  see  how  religious  affairs  in  England  were 
proceeding  during  the  same  period.  Here  we  find  an 
incessant  struggle  between  the  temporal  and  spiritual 
powers.  The  lingering  dispute  was  interminable,  the 
result  of  a  misunderstanding  of  respective  rights,  and 
of  a  great  deal  of  unwillingness  to  respect  them  when 
understood.  It  is  not  that  the  English  people  looked 
upon  the  spiritual  power  of  the  pope  as  a  usurped  power, 
a  Roman  tyranny.  The  testimony  of  history  sets  forth 
the  opposite.  It  cannot  be  said  that  there  was  ever  any 
general  discontent  arising  from  the  Roman  jurisdiction 
in  matters  spiritual.  Jurisdiction,  or  rather,  effective 
jurisdiction  depends  upon  the  willingness  of  the  subject 
to  submit  to  constituted  authority.  Temporal  jurisdic- 
tion may  be  perpetuated  effectively  by  the  assistance  of 
various  sanctions ;  but  in  the  case  of  a  spiritual  authority 
imposing  itself  upon  a  community  or  nation,  its  perpet- 
uity and  effectiveness  is  beyond  comprehension  unless  the 
individual  accepts  it  for  loftier  motives  than  those  of 
mere  expediency.  Gairdner,  in  writing  of  the  Roman 
jurisdiction  in  England,  says,  "That  Rome  exercised  her 
spiritual  power  by  the  willing  obedience  of  Englishmen 
in  general,  and  that  they  regarded  it  as  a  really  whole- 
some power,  even  for  the  control  it  exercised  over  secular 
tyranny,  is  a  fact  which  it  requires  no  very  intimate 
knowledge  of  early  English  literature  to  bring  home  to 
us.  Who  was  'the  holy  blissful  martyr '  whom  Chaucer's 
pilgrims  went  to  seek  at  Canterbury?  One  who  had  re- 
sisted his  sovereign  in  the  attempt  to  interfere  with  the 
claims  of  the  papal  Church.  For  that  cause,  and  for  no 
other,  pilgrims  who  went  to  visit  his  tomb  regarded  him 


CHURCHMAN  AND  MAN  OF  LETTERS  37 

as  a  saint.  It  was  only  after  an  able  and  despotic  king 
had  proved  himself  stronger  than  the  spiritual  power  of 
Borne,  that  the  people  of  England  were  divorced  from 
their  Roman  allegiance;  and  there  is  abundant  evidence 
that  they  were  divorced  from  it  first  against  their  vtill."16 

The  first  care  of  the  Church  must  always  be  to  ap- 
point good  bishops,  the  shepherds  of  the  flocks.  It  is  not 
sufficient  that  vice  be  absent  from  their  lives,  but  their 
virtues  must  be  unmistakable  and  positive;  not  merely 
one  outstanding  virtue,  such  as  learning,  or  holiness,  but 
rather  a  combination  of  many  virtues  of  a  high  degree. 
A  bishopric  has  always  been  a  position  of  respect  and 
power  in  the  community.  Its  influence,  when  conscien- 
tiously directed,  cannot  but  be  for  the  welfare  of  the 
whole  community.  When  in  the  hands  of  a  weak  man, 
its  very  omissions  are  the  source  of  irretrievable  losses ; 
and  in  the  hands  of  an  unscrupulous  man,  its  faults  are 
disastrous.  The  bishops  of  the  medieval  Church  were  not 
only  powerful  spiritual  lords,  but  powerful  temporal 
lords  as  well.  They  formed  an  estate17  in  the  adminis- 
tration of  temporal  government  just  as  did  the  nobles 
and  the  commons  who  made  up  distinct  estates  in  them- 
selves. After  the  concessions  of  the  Magna  Charta  the 
right  of  choosing  bishops  was  given  to  the  chapters.  On 
the  vacancy  of  a  See,  the  chapter  solicited  a  conge  d'elire, 
and  chose  by  the  majority  of  votes  or  by  compromise,  the 
incumbent  who  was  presented  by  them  to  the  king  for 
approbation.  The  approbation  was  signified  to  the 
metropolitan,  or  to  the  pope  if  it  was  an  archbishopric. 
If  the  election  was  confirmed  by  the  metropolitan  or  by 
the  pope,  respectively,  the  king,  notified  of  the  confirma- 
tion, received  the  homage  of  the  new  bishop  and  conferred 
on  him  the  temporalities  of  his  see.18  How  readily  this 
system  would  lend  itself  to  complications  and  abuses, 


16.  Gairdner,  op  cit.,  chap.  1,  p.  5. 

17.  Rotten  Parliament  i  189  and  ii  450. 

18.  Rot,  Parl.  IV,  61. 


38  REGINALD  PECOCK 

just  as  any  system  may,  is  seen  at  a  glance.  The  chapters 
in  their  zeal  to  secure  proper  candidates  and  to  exclude 
undue  influence  in  the  choice,  overburdened  the  system 
with  minute  regulations.  Complications  of  various  na- 
tures arising  in  the  chapters  often  necessitated  an  appeal 
to  the  pope  or  to  the  metropolitan,  who  in  turn  was  often 
influenced,  in  the  period  of  which  we  speak,  by  an  inter- 
ested and  unscrupulous  court  at  Eome,  and  especially  at 
Avignon,  or  by  an  ambitious  king  or  faction  at  home,  to 
appoint  unworthy  men,  or  men  unfitted  for  the  high 
office.  Too  frequently  we  find  bishoprics  given  to  favour- 
ites. Gradually  the  popes  for  various  reasons  withdrew 
the  privileges  of  the  chapters,  and  reserved  to  themselves 
the  right  of  " provision"  to  Sees.  Often  this  proved  to  be 
a  great  safeguard  in  selecting  a  good  man,  but  unfor- 
tunately, too  often  it  became  a  source  of  abuse. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  the  number  of  ' '  provisions  " 
made  in  the  reign  of  Edward  II,  during  the  pontificate 
of  John  XXII.  Previous  to  this,  direct  papal  nomina- 
tions were  exceptionally  made,  but  henceforth,  it  almost 
became  the  practice.  According  to  the  testimony  of 
Eobert  of  Reading,  John  XXII  reserved  to  himself  the 
nominations  of  English  bishops  because  he  was  disgusted 
with  the  appointments  made  through  the  influence  of 
Edward  II.19  This  evidence  does  not  come  from  friends, 
since  the  Westminster  monks  were  not  friendly  to 
Edward  II.  Professor  Tout  observes,  however,  that 
"John  did  provide  to  the  English  Church  some  very 
unworthy  clerks,  but  he  also  stopped  some  of  the  worst 
jobs  which  the  English  government  wished  to  perpe- 
trate."^ Between  1307  and  1316  there  were  only  two 
individual  English  prelates  appointed  directly  by  the 
pope.  These  were  Walter  Reynolds,  a  member  of  the 
king's  household,  made  Bishop  of  Worcester  1309,  and 
translated  to  Canterbury  1314,  and  Walter  Maidstone 


19.  Eobert  of  Reading,  Flores.     Hist,  iii,  175  and  176. 

20.  Tout,  The  Place  of  Edward  II  in  English  History. 


CHURCHMAN  AND  MAN  OF  LETTERS  39 

Bishop  of  Worcester  in  1314.  Between  1317  and  1326 
ten  bishops  were  appointed  by  papal  reservation  and  pro- 
vision. These  were :  1317,  Thomas  Cobham  to  Worcester, 
Louis  of  Beaumont  to  Durham,  and  Adam  Orleton  to 
Hereford;  1320,  Rigaud  of  Assier  to  Winchester,  and 
Henry  Burgherish  to  Lincoln;  1323,  John  Eaglescliffe 
to  Llandaff,  and  John  Stratford  to  Winchester;  1325, 
John  Ross  to  Carlisle  and  William  Airmyn  to  Norwich/1 
In  this  list  of  appointments  we  find  the  aristrocratic 
Louis  of  Beaumont  and  Henry  Burgherish  who  stood 
well  with  pope  and  government ;  respectable  officials  like 
Roger  Northburgh;  and  scandalous  self-seekers  of  the 
official  type,  such  as  Adam  Orleton,  John  Stratford  and 
William  Airmyn.  Two  were  Frenchmen,  Beaumont  and 
Rigaud  of  Assier.  Thomas  Cobham  was  the  only  one  of 
a  high  spiritual  type.  He  was  the  "good  clerk,"  the 
"flower  of  Kent,"  the  distinguished  academic  teacher 
who  received  in  his  promotion  to  Worcester  some  con- 
solation for  having  had  his  election  to  Canterbury  set 
aside  in  favour  of  Walter  Reynolds.  The  two  other 
bishops  created  by  John  XXII  had  at  least  the  merit  of 
not  being  politicians.  Professor  Tout  goes  on  to  say  that 
after  1322,  John  XXII  deserved  credit  for  rejecting  the 
nominees  of  Edward  II,  as  rigorously  as  he  ruled  out 
those  elected  by  the  chapters.  He  quashed  the  election 
of  Robert  Baldock  to  the  See  of  Norwich  and  so  saved 
England  from  an  unworthy  bishop. 

In  providing  spiritual  heads  for  the  Church,  the  pope 
was  undoubtedly  acting  within  his  rights.  His  inter- 
ference in  temporal  affairs,  such  as  the  appointing  the 
temporalities  of  the  See  to  whomever  he  chose,  whether 
Englishman,  Frenchman  or  Italian  is  a  very  debatable 
question.  Foreign  prelates  enjoying  the  revenues  of  an 
English  bishopric  were  not  uncommon  in  this  period. 
There  are  instances  in  which  such  prelates  never  were 
within  the  borders  of  their  territory.  Apart  from  all  this, 


21.  Tout,  Ibid.  p.  231,  footnote. 


40  REGINALD  PECOCK 

the  real  struggle  centred  around  the  control  of  the  ap- 
pointments to  bishoprics.  Kings  and  factions  on  both 
sides  did  not  hesitate  to  prostitute  these  most  sacred 
offices  to  the  attainment  of  their  own  petty  ambitions.  In 
doing  so  they  violated  the  sacred  rights  of  the  spiritual 
authority. 

The  greatest  evils  arose  from  the  "provisions"  to 
inferior  benefices.  Later  in  the  century,  about  the  time 
of  the  outbreaks  of  John  Ball  and  Wycliffe,  the  evil  oi? 
these  abuses  cried  to  heaven  for  vengeance,  because  there 
was  no  one  to  overturn  the  tables  of  the  money-changers 
and  scourge  the  buyers  and  sellers  from  the  temple  of 
God.  Livings  were  given  to  foreigners  who  neither 
knew  the  language  nor  resided  in  the  kingdom;  pastors 
absented  themselves  from  the  care  of  their  flocks,  mani- 
festing no  interest  in  them  other  than  reaping  the  reve- 
nues ;  parishes  and  benefices  were  turned  over  to  laymen 
for  exploitation;  and  inferior,  illiterate,  and  poorly 
recompensed  clerics  were  left  to  be  the  leaders  of  the 
people. 

These  abuses  continued  practically  throughout  the 
period  of  which  we  treat.  They  increased  in  numbers 
and  seriousness  as  time  went  on,  and  other  forces  con- 
tributed to  the  general  breakdown.  It  must  be  borne  in 
mind  that  there  were  many  excellent  prelates  and  priests 
in  the  midst  of  all  this  lax  discipline.  There  were  many 
others  who,  while  being  men  of  good  morals  and  noble 
ideals,  were  nevertheless  products  of  the  age  and  victims 
of  a  vicious  system.  Many  too,  especially  following  the 
Black  Death  and  in  the  time  of  our  author,  were  of 
mediocre  ability  and  false  ideals.  Under  Henry  IV 
and  Henry  V  there  was  hope  that  something  by  way  of 
reform  would  be  accomplished,  but  like  their  predeces- 
sors, they  were  preoccupied  in  the  war  with  France. 

We  have  seen  something  of  the  opening  of  this  period 
of  moral  and  social  decline  in  the  reign  of  Edward  II 
and  his  more  immediate  successors.  Let  us  now  dwell 


CHUECHMAN  AND  MAX  OF  LETTERS  41 

more  in  detail  upon  the  closing  years  of  our  period.  It 
was  during  this  time  that  Pecock  grew  to  manhood, 
emerging  from  obscurity  to  a  position  of  prominence  and 
influence.  Undoubtedly  much  of  the  zeal  for  reform,  so 
manifest  in  his  administration  in  after  years,  was  the 
outcome  of  personal  experience  as  a  young  priest  and 
especially  his  experience  in  London.  Reginald  Pecock 
was  not  a  mere  denouncer  of  evils;  his  criticism  was 
constructive.  Another,  a  contemporary,  full  of  zeal  and 
full  of  destructive  criticism,  Dr.  Gascoigne,  of  whom  we 
have  already  spoken,  has  bequeathed  to  posterity  some 
interesting  bits  of  ecclesiastical  gossip  on  the  evils  of  his 
day.  There  is  certain  exaggeration  in  it,  for  Gascoigne 
revels  in  superlatives,  and  a  deal  of  truth  about  it  that 
throws  light  upon  the  unrest  and  the  spread  of  Lollardy. 
Speaking  of  the  grave  neglect  of  bishops  in  the  duty  of 
preaching,  he  says  that  even  the  people  cried  out  against 
them  in  these  words,  "Woe  to  you,  bishops  who  are  so 
rich,  who  love  to  be  called  lords,  and  to  be  served  by 
others  on  their  knees,  who  ride  attended  with  so  many 
and  pompous  horses,  and  who  will  do  nothing  for  the  sal- 
vation of  souls,  by  the  preaching  the  Word;  for  they 
either  know  not  how  to  preach,  being  entangled  in  worldly 
business  and  bodily  pleasures,  or  they  cannot  preach 
truly  without  preaching  against  those  evils  of  which  they 
themselves  are  guilty."^  Speaking  of  non-residence  of 
bishops  he  says,  "Before  King  Henry  IV,  the  kings  of 
England  were  wont  to  choose  for  their  Confessors  grave 
Doctors  of  Divinity,  who  had  no  other  cure,  and  Bishops 
then  attended  to  the  care  of  the  dioceses.  Thus,  Henry 
IV,  when  his  Confessor  was  made  Bishop,  commanded 
him  to  go  to  his  cure  and  bishopric.  Henry  V,  likewise 
a  very  wise  king  and  a  terror  to  a  great  many  kingdoms, 
had  with  him  one  grave  Doctor  of  Divinity,  Thomas 
Walden,  who  had  no  cure  of  souls,  for  his  Confessor.  And 
thus  the  kings  and  lords  used  to  retain  such  for  their 


22.  Wood,  op.  cit.,  vol.  1,  p.  222,  c  I. 


42  REGINALD  PECOCK 

chaplains  who  had  no  cure  of  souls.  But  in  the  time  of 
Henry  IV,  Stafford,  Bishop  of  Canterbury,  was  chan- 
cellor of  England;  Adam  Molens,  Bishop  of  Chichester, 
was  keeper  of  the  Privy  Seal,  and  was  murdered;  the 
Bishop  of  Norwich,  Walter  Lyard,  a  Cornish  man,  was 
the  Queen's  Confessor  residing  at  court;  and  the  Bishop 
of  Carlisle,  and  afterwards  of  Lincoln,  Marmaduke 
Lumley  was  treasurer  of  England;  and  the  unworthy 
Bishop  of  Coventry,  Buth,  was  then  chancellor  to  Mar- 
garet, Queen  of  England."**  He  further  observes  that 
"  John  Kemp,  a  native  of  Kent,  Bishop  of  Rochester  and 
afterwards  of  London,  and  then  of  York  for  almost 
twenty-eight  years,  while  he  continued  Archbishop  of 
that  province,  was  wholly  absent  from  his  diocese,  living 
at  London  or  at  Kent  or  elsewhere  in  England  at  a  dis- 
tance from  his  diocese ;  excepting  that  sometimes  in  ten 
or  twelve  years  he  resided  in  his  diocese  of  York  for  two 
or  three  weeks,  and  at  York  a  few  or  no  days,"  and  that 
the  mob,  when  they  set  on  Asku,  Bishop  of  Salisbury,  to 
murder  him,  thus  insulted  and  upbraided  him,  "That 
fellow  always  lived  with  the  King,  and  was  his  Confessor, 
and  did  not  reside  in  his  diocese  of  Salisbury  with  us, 
nor  keep  any  hospitality,  therefore,  he  shall  not  live ! '  '^ 
In  speaking  of  the  holding  of  inferior  benefices  by 
laymen,  Gascoigne  says :  "I  know  at  the  very  time  that 
the  said  doctor  (Gascoigne  himself)  was  Chancellor  of 
Oxford,  well  famed  for  knowledge  and  good  rule  among 
men,  that,  among  others  unworthily  promoted,  a  foolish 
youth  eighteen  years  of  age  was  promoted  to  twelve 
prebends  and  a  great  archdeaconry  of  one  hundred 
pounds  value,  and  to  a  great  rectory,  and  a  secular  man 
received  all  the  rents  of  the  said  benefices  and  spent 
upon  the  said  youth  just  as  much  as  he,  the  secular  man, 
pleased,  and  never  gave  an  account;  and  the  said  youth 
was  the  son  of  a  simple  knight,  and  like  an  idiot,  almost 

23.  Gascoigne,    op.    cit.    pars    prima.    p.    401,    secunda,    p.    450,  pars 
prima.  (p.  387). 

24.  Gascoigne,  ibid,  pars  prima,  p.  137. 


CHUKCHMAN  AND  MAN  OF  LETTERS  43 

every  day  drunk.  The  bishop  promoted  him  to  please  a 
great  worldly  lord  whose  playmate  he  had  been  in  his 
boyhood;  and  he  remained  nearly  twenty  years  in  the 
enjoyment  of  those  prebends  and  of  the  archdeaconry, 
during  which  time  he  was  never  judged  capable  of  being  a 
priest,  nor  did  he  ever  reside  in  any  of  his  prebends, 
nor  in  the  archdeaconry,  nor  in  the  rectory.'^5 

Who  were  responsible  for  these  abuses?  Undoubt- 
edly the  evidence  of  history  leads  to  one  conclusion  in 
this  case,  namely,  that  the  papal  court,  the  English  court, 
and  the  English  hierarchy  must  shoulder  a  great  deal  of 
the  responsibility. 

There  are,  however,  a  few  more  phases  of  the  situa- 
tion taken  as  a  whole,  that  we  must  consider,  before  we 
can  arrive  at  the  proper  perspective.  Throughout  this 
period  there  was  practically  incessant  warfare.  If  Eng- 
land happened  not  to  be  at  war  with  Scotland,  she  was 
fighting  the  Irish,  and  assuredly  the  French.  In  the 
reign  of  Edward  II,  we  find  England  at  war,  first  with 
the  Scotch,  and  then  with  the  Irish.  Finally,  civil  war 
rages  and  Edward  II  loses  his  throne  and  his  life.  Ed- 
ward III,  shortly  after  ascending  the  throne,  is  at  war 
with  Scotland,  and  then  in  long  drawn  out  campaigns 
with  the  French.  Richard  II  continues  the  warfare  in 
both  France  and  Ireland,  and  eventually  the  country,  in 
the  throes  of  insurrection  and  civil  war,  drives  Eichard 
from  his  throne.  He  is  afterward  treacherously  mur- 
dered. Civil  strife  continues  and  conditions  remain 
unsettled  throughout  the  succeeding  reign.  Although 
Henry  IV  was  a  much  stronger  king  than  his  predecessor, 
and  dealt  with  rebellion  and  insurrection  very  summarily 
and  drastically,  still  the  mysterious  circumstances  at- 
tendant upon  his  taking  the  throne  were  the  source  of  a 
great  real  of  unrest  and  discontent  among  the  people. 
Enemies  from  within  and  without  only  awaited  an  op- 
portunity to  begin  some  new  disturbance.  We  find  him 

25.  Roger,  op.  cit.,  pp.  13-14.    See  also  Gairdner,  op.  cit.,  vol.  1,  p.  247. 


44  REGINALD  PECOCK 

at  war  with  Scotland;  another  time  crushing  the  lords 
appellants;  putting  down  the  Percies,  and  the  Owen 
Glendower  rebellion ;  and  dealing  severely  and  vigorously 
with  insurrection  in  Yorkshire.  In  addition,  the  French 
under  St.  Pol  and  the  Duke  of  Orleans  continued  to  give 
trouble.  Under  Henry  V,  the  mad  project  of  subduing 
France  was  once  again  undertaken.  This  meant  the  cost 
of  many  lives  and  the  burdening  of  the  people  who  were 
already  overburdened  with  taxation.  Some  idea  may  be 
had  of  the  carnage  of  this  almost  ceaseless  warfare 
throughout  the  period  of  which  we  treat,  when  we  con- 
sider that  Edward  Ill's  glorious  victories  were  purchased 
with  the  slaughter  of  50,000  men,  the  flower  of  English 
manhood. 

War  and  social  strife  were  not  alone  in  contributing 
to  the  reign  of  general  chaos.  Famine  and  pestilence 
were  undoubtedly  prime  factors  in  bringing  about  the 
social  and  religious  disturbances  that  manifested  them- 
selves in  the  uprisings  under  the  leadership  of  John  Ball 
and  the  followers  of  John  Wycliffe.  Within  a  period  of 
thirty-three  years,  England  was  scourged  by  two  great 
epidemics,  the  latter  of  which  was  the  greater.  Follow- 
ing the  overwhelming  defeat  at  Bannoekburn  in  1314,  the 
country  was  visited  in  1315  by  famine  and  pestilence. 
The  harvest  of  1314  failed,  leaving  the  supply  so  scanty 
that  the  king,  at  the  request  of  parliament,  fixed  a  maxi- 
mum price  on  provisions,  but  to  no  avail.  Wheat,  peas 
and  beans  sold  at  twenty  shillings  the  quarter.  This 
calamity  was  accompanied  by  disease  breaking  out  among 
the  cattle;  the  early  crops  were  destroyed  by  rain  and 
the  late  crops  never  ripened;  lack  of  nourishment  pro- 
duced dysenteries  and  pestilence.  The  poor  were  reduced 
to  feeding  upon  roots,  horses,  dogs  and  other  animals. 
Stories  of  men  eating  the  dead  bodies  of  their  companions 
are  recorded,  and  of  parents  those  of  their  children.^ 
Bands  of  unfortunate  but  desperate  men  roamed  the 


26.  Walsingham  107-108;  Strokel.  37;  Mon.  Malms.  166. 


CHUKCHMAN  AND  MAN  OF  LETTEES  45 

country,  which  presented  one  great  theatre  of  rapine, 
anarchy  and  bloodshed/7  Internecine  war  broke  out 
among  the  barons,  and  Eobert  Bruce,  taking  advantage 
of  the  civil  dissension,  carried  his  war  into  England  in 
1318,  pushing  as  far  south  as  Yorkshire. 

The  Great  Plague,  known  as  the  Black  Death,  fol- 
lowed in  a  few  years.  The  first  visitation  lasted  about 
fourteen  months  in  1348  and  1349.  The  exact  number 
that  died  in  this  visitation  cannot  be  accurately  com- 
puted. It  is  estimated  that  from  one-third  to  one-half 
of  the  population  perished.  We  do  know,  however,  that 
the  exterminating  malady  carried  off  thousands,  both 
men  and  beasts ;  agriculture  was  neglected ;  courts  of 
justice  were  closed;  parliament  was  repeatedly  pro- 
rogued by  proclamation;  the  carcasses  of  sheep,  horses 
and  oxen  lay  scattered  on  the  fields,  untouched  by  birds 
of  prey.  We  know  too  that  in  a  short  time  all  the  ceme- 
teries in  London  were  filled,  and  that  Sir  Walter  Manny 
purchased  a  field  of  thirteen  acres  for  a  public  burial 
place,  and  that  the  bodies  buried  there  amounted  to  two 
hundred  daily  for  several  weeks.  Two  Archbishops  of 
Canterbury  died  in  this  year,  and  the  frequent  appoint- 
ments to  vacant  livings  in  the  same  year  show  the  mor- 
tality among  the  clergy  and  their  faithfulness  to  duty. 
Many  of  Chaucer's  "Good  Parson'7  type  perished.  In 
the  diocese  of  Norwich,  800  parish  priests  died  in  1349, 
and  the  diocese  lost  altogether  2000  clergy  during  the 
plague.  Edward  III  speaking  of  the  mortality  through- 
out the  country,  uses  the  expressions,  "non  modica  pars 
populi"  and  "magna  pars  populi."28 

England  was  never  to  be  the  same  England  again. 
The  far-reaching  results  of  this  terrible  visitation,  upon 
the  political,  social  and  religious  institutions  of  the 
country  were  to  affect  generations  yet  unborn.  First,  it 


27.  Wals.    107,    109. 

28.  Lingard,  John,  History  of  England,  vol.  IV:   New  Rym,  iii. 
621. 


46  REGINALD  PECOCK 

led  to  a  great  social  revolution.  Scarcity  of  labour  was 
so  marked  that  some  of  the  manors  could  not  be  culti- 
vated at  all;  the  surviving  labourers  took  advantage  of 
the  scarcity,  and  as  a  result  we  find  wages  increasing 
from  fifty  to  two  hundred  per  cent ;  the  land  owner  was 
brought  face  to  face  with  ruin,  and  commodities  soared 
in  price  beyond  the  reach  of  all  except  the  wealthy.  The 
government,  alarmed  at  the  situation,  was  forced  to  pass 
stringent  legislation  controlling  the  price  of  labour  and 
commodities/5 

A  growing  restlessness  among  the  people  had  been 
evident  long  before  the  appearance  of  pestilence.  They 
were  the  victims  of  the  military  ambitions  of  generations 
of  kings.  The  people  fought  the  wars,  and  in  times  of 
peace  paid  for  the  wars.  Then,  too,  many  of  the 
shepherds  from  whom  they  should  expect  leadership  and 
support  were  unworthy  of  their  confidence.  Unfortun- 
ately, the  clerical  estate  remained  aloof  from  the  con- 
stitutional struggles  of  the  commons,  and  naturally  the 
feeling  grew  in  some  quarters  that  their  spiritual  lead- 
ers were  not  with  them.  In  the  midst  of  the  confusion, 
this  calamity  of  1348  swept  away  in  a  short  period  the 
true  and  sympathetic  leaders,  the  men  of  God  who 
remained  with  their  flocks.  Their  places  could  not  be 
filled,  but  men  had  to  take  their  places.  Very  often 
these  compromises  were  deficient  educationally  and  spir- 
itually. These  were  fortuitous  circumstances.  No  one 
can  be  held  responsible.  In  all  likelihood  the  superiors 
acted  on  the  principle  that  half  is  better  than  none. 

Just  what  were  the  results,  and  how  comprehensive 
in  its  influence  this  calamity  may  have  been,  will  never 
be  known.  Its  effects  penetrated,  perhaps,  avenues  yet 
unexplored  by  historians.  To  it,  as  a  primary  influence, 
may  be  traced  evils  in  the  next  two  centuries  which  are 
often  attributed  to  more  proximate  causes.  Certainly  it 
is  not  forcing  a  conclusion  to  state  that  the  discontent, 


29.  Knyght,  2599;   Wals.  198;  Ford.  XIV,  7. 


CHURCHMAN  AND  MAN  OF  LETTERS  47 

unrest  and  ignorance  among  many  of  the  lower  clergy 
was  ideal  ground  for  John  Ball's  and  John  WycliftVs 
socialistic  principles  to  fall  upon.  The  fanatic  reformer 
always  takes  advantage  of  discontent  and  unrest  in  order 
to  obtain  a  hearing  and  a  following. 

We  will  now  see  something  of  the  man  Wycliffe,  the 
most  learned  of  the  revolutionists  of  his  day,  and  the  soul 
of  the  revolt  against  the  Church  and  the  State.  John 
Wycliffe  first  comes  into  prominence  about  the  year  1360. 
The  contempt  manifested  by  his  bitter  invectives  against 
the  different  orders  of  friars  places  the  man  as  an 
extremist.  This  hatred  and  contempt  increased  with 
years,  until  it  extended  not  merely  to  monks  and  friars 
but  to  all  priests,^  bishops  and  the  pope  himself.  Charity 
and  sincerity  are  the  first  requisites  in  the  true  reformer. 
No  matter  what  his  other  qualifications  may  be,  no  matter 
what  his  position  may  be,  if  these  virtues  are  absent,  his 
denunciation  and  crying  from  the  house  tops  are  in  vain. 
Great  evils  existed.  It  cannot  be  denied.  The  times 
were  sorely  in  need  of  a  great  reformer,  but  John 
Wycliffe,  from  the  testimony  of  history,  cannot  be  said 
to  have  been  that  reformer.  His  radical  principles  struck 
at  the  very  foundations  of  existing  society.  Certainly 
his  memorable  doctrine  that  ownership  is  founded  in 
grace  added  to  the  general  confusion.  This  doctrine  as 
set  forth  by  him  states  explicitly  that  "  Every  one  that 
is  finally  justified  hath  not  only  a  right  to,  but  in  fact 
enjoys  all  the  things  of  God.'^1  In  other  words,  a  man 
in  mortal  sin  was  incapable  of  ownership,  and  had  no 
right  to  anything,  while  a  man  in  the  state  of  grace 
really  possessed  all  things.  Furthermore,  among  Chris- 
tians there  ought  to  be  community  of  goods ;  the  clergy 
ought  to  live  on  alms  freely  given,  and  the  possession  of 
temporal  goods  by  them  was  a  gross  abuse.  Wycliffe, 
whether  sincerely  or  not,  but  quite  in  the  fashion  of  the 


30.  His   OWD    poor  priests   excepting. 

31.  Lewis,  op.  cit.,  p.  46. 


48  REGINALD  PECOCK 

typical  reformer  who  followed  him,  made  sure  to  incor- 
porate into  his  teachings  principles  that  were  a  bait  for 
avaricious  laymen.  "If  God  is,"  he  states,  "temporal 
lords  may  lawfully  and  meritoriously  take  away  the  goods 
of  fortune  of  a  delinquent  Church."^  He  continues, 
"Whether  the  Church  be  in  such  a  state  or  not,  is  not 
my  business  to  examine,  but  the  business  of  temporal 
lords ;  who,  if  they  find  it  to  be  in  such  a  state,  are  to  act 
boldly,  and  on  the  penalty  of  damnation  to  take  away 
the  temporalities.  "-^  Bishop  Stubbs  makes  this  obser- 
vation about  Wy cliff e:  "Wy cliff e  himself  was  a  deep 
thinker  and  a  popular  teacher ;  but  his  logical  system  of 
politics,  when  it  was  applied  to  practice,  turned  out  to  be 
little  less  than  socialism,  and  his  religious  system, 
unless  its  vital  doctrines  are  understood  to  be  thrown 
into  .the  shade  by  its  controversial  tone,  was  unfortun- 
ately devoid  of  the  true  leaven  of  all  religious  success, 
sympathy  and  charity."  Dr.  Gairdner,  in  commenting^ 
upon  the  practicability  of  Wycliffe 's  teaching,  says:  "It 
(the  teaching)  was  clearly  dangerous  to. an  existing  sys- 
tem, and  could  not  maintain  itself  as  a  school  of  thought 
.  .  .  His  mode  of  reforming  the  Church  was  not  con- 
sistent with  practical  politics,  and  the  Church  found  her 
own  way  out  of  that  virtual  anarchy  which  had  suggested 
such  drastic  remedies."^5 

Such  testimony  is  not  founded  upon  a  prejudice 
against  Wycliffe.  It  need  not  be  a  question  of  prejudice 
but  of  fact.  Wycliffe 's  principles  were  undoubtedly 
socialistic  and  inflammatory,  and  above  all,  most  inop- 
portune. To  what  extent  the  responsibility  for  the  insur- 
rection of  1381,  the  like  of  which  England  never  before 
had  experienced,  may  be  laid  upon  Wycliffe  is  difficult 
justly  to  compute.  His  principles  were  revolutionary 
beyond  a  doubt,  and  from  what  we  glean  of  the  man  him- 

32.  Ibid.  pp.  46-47;  Vide  Lechler,  425,  "Trialogi  Supp." 

33.  Lewis,  Ibid.   pp.  45-47. 

34.  Stubbs,   op.  cit.,  vol.   II,  p.  460. 

35.  Gairdner,  op.  cit.,  vol.  1,  p.  12. 


CHUKCHMAN  AND  MAN  OF  LETTEKS  49 

self,  he  was  quite  capable  of  an  extreme,  inflammatory, 
revolutionary  appeal.  Other  preachers,  it  is  true,  had 
been  setting  forth  dangerous  doctrines  before  the  out- 
break. The  priest,  John  Ball,  had  been  inflaming  the 
countryside  for  some  time.  To  what  extent  Ball  was 
under  Wycliffe 's  influence  cannot  be  ascertained.  We 
do  know  that  Ball's  doctrine  about  tithes  harmonised 
with  that  of  Wy cliff e.  And  we  know  also  that  after  the 
terrible  happenings  of  1381,  when  Wycliffe  beheld  his 
principles  in  operation,  the  countryside  in  flames  and 
rapine  and  murder  stalking  forth,  and  the  very  social 
fabric  trembling,  he  compromsied,  and  very  consistently 
modified  his  first  stand,  and  rather  paradoxically  advo- 
cated another  set  of  principles. 

Was  Wycliffe  sincere  ?  Let  us  suppose  that  the  man 
was  sincere,  and  that  his  bitter  invectives  and  paradoxes 
were  the  result  of  his  sanguine,  ardent  zeal.  But  in  spite 
of  this  there  remains  a  great  deal  to  be  explained  away, 
a  great  deal  of  evidence  that  excludes  him  from  the  cate- 
gory of  the  disinterested,  deeply  religious  reformers  of 
every  age.  While  there  were  abuses  existing  in  religious 
orders,  still  Wycliffe 's  petty  quibbling  and  inveighing  did 
not  bear  the  mark  of  fraternal  correction.  Moreover, 
there  is  much  to  be  explained  in  his  method  of  obtaining 
the  wardenship  of  Canterbury  Hall  at  Oxford.  His 
method  wTas  that  of  a  petty  politician,  dishonorable,  and 
in  violation  of  the  constitutions.  He  yielded,  finally,  to 
the  rightful  appointee,  after  the  united  authority  of  king 
and  pontiff  had  been  brought  to  bear  upon  him,  but  with 
bitter  resentment.  His  contemporaries  attributed  his 
violent  attacks  upon  the  popes  and  the  monastic  orders  in 
after  years  to  his  bitter  and  lasting  resentment  at  the 
loss  of  the  wardenship.  But  this  incident  does  not  stand 
alone ;  even  in  an  endeavor  to  be  just  one  cannot  wholly 
rid  one's  mind  of  the  realization  that  there  is  something 
to  be  explained  before  Wycliffe 's  sincerity  and  integrity 
will  be  allowed  to  pass  without  qualifications.  As  Luther 


50  .REGINALD  PECOCK 

in  his  association  with  Philip  of  Hesse,  so  John  Wy cliff  > 
in  his  intimate  friendship  and  association  with  John  of 
Gaunt  would  have  much  to  explain  in  an  effort  to  dispel 
all  suspicion.  John  of  Gaunt  was  a  clever  unscrupulous 
trickster  who  did  not  hesitate  at  any  means,  no  matter 
how  immoral,  to  attain  his  end.  His  loyalty  to  both  king 
and  country  is  still  very  questionable.  It  was  he  who 
championed  Wy  cliff  e's  cause.  That  Wy  cliff  e,  in  his  close 
association  with  this  man,  was  wholly  unaware  of  his 
character  and  standards  of  morality,  that  he  thought  him 
sincere,  is  an  explanation  commonly  offered,  but  one 
entirely  unsatisfactory,  and  unjust  in  so  far  as  it  reflects 
upon  Wy  cliff  e's  keen  intelligence. 

We  have  endeavoured  to  trace  the  course  of  some  of 
the  principal  causes  that  led  up  to  the  social  and  religious 
upheaval  that  manifested  itself  under  the  leadership  of 
John  Wycliffe.  We  have  seen  that  the  responsibility 
cannot  be  justly  attributed  to  any  one  cause,  or  to  any 
individual,  or  group  of  individuals,  but  was  the  outcome 
of  forces  of  disintegration  that  had  been  at  work  in  the 
distant  past.  The  final  outcome  could  be  avoided  only  by 
the  special  interposition  of  Divine  Providence. 

Wycliffe  soon  attracted  to  himself  a  large  following. 
His  novel  doctrines  found  root  in  the  soil  of  discontent 
and  soon  he  reaped  a  harvest  of  numbers  amongst  the 
lower  and  untutored  clergy  as  well  as  among  the  laity. 
All  were  caught  up  with  the  fanatical  zeal  that  led  them 
boldly  to  denounce  the  adherents  of  the  Church  tradition 
as  impious,  wicked  and  perverse.  "So  strong  had  they 
become,"  says  Dr.  Gairdner,  "with  powerful  patronage, 
that  numbers  actually  accepted  their  teaching  from  fear. 
They  created  dissension  among  families,  setting  up  father 
against  son,  and  son  against  father,  servants  against 
masters,  and  generally  speaking,  neighbours  against 


CHURCHMAN  AND  MAN  OF  LETTERS  51 

neighbours.     Such  at  least  was  the  accusation  against 
them.'^6 

Such  were  the  conditions  in  England  when  the  first 
light  of  reason  began  to  dawn  upon  the  child,  the  future 
Bishop  of  St.  Asaph  and  later  of  Chichester.  His  child- 
hood days  and  young  manhood  were  spent  in  one  of  the 
most  trying  periods  of  England's  history.  It  is  possible 
that  his  youthful  dream  was  to  restore  peace  and  har- 
mony to  his  people,  and  to  that  Church  which  he  loved 
and  venerated  to  his  last  day.  Later  in  this  volume, 
Reginald  Pecock,  a  master  on  the  subject,  will  tell  us 
more  of  John  Wycliffe  and  Lollardy. 

36.  Gairdner,  ibid.,  vol.  1,  p.  13.     Vide  Chronicle  of  Henry  Knighton 
(Rolls  Ser.)  ii,  184-187. 


52  REGINALD  PECOCK 

CHAPTER  III 

FIFTEENTH  CENTURY  PROSE 
AND 

LOLLARDY 

The  ascent  and  decline  in  the  political  fortunes  of 
nations  is  almost  mathematical  in  its  progression.  The 
history  of  great  nations  and  great  empires  has  no  excep- 
tion to  offer  to  the  invariable  rule.  A  nation  rises  from 
obscurity,  struggles  upward  to  a  pinnacle  of  power  and 
prestige,  relaxes  in  the  refulgence  of  its  own  transfigura- 
tion, and  in  turn  goes  the  way  of  all  nations  to  take  its 
place  amongst  those  that  have  been.  With  the  literary 
fortunes  of  a  people  or  nation  this  has  not  been  the 
experience  of  history.  There  is  nothing  regular  or 
mathematical  about  the  rise  and  fall  in  the  literary  pres- 
tige of  a  people.  We  do  know,  however,  that  a  nation 
which  loses  its  ideals  is  doomed  to  dark  oblivion  from 
which  there  is  no  return.  A  nation  without  ideals  will 
never  produce  anything  that  is  original,  vigorous  and 
manly  in  the  field  of  art,  of  which  literature  is  a  part. 
Apart  from  this  the  possibilities  for  a  literary  future 
amongst  a  civilized  people  are  unlimited. 

Those  who  trace  the  history  of  literary  movements 
have  a  passion  for  seeing  in  them  a  regular,  steady 
progression,  but  unfortunately,  or  rather  inconveniently, 
the  few  exceptions,  and  they  are  very  great  exceptions, 
greatly  upset  this  theory  of  progression.  No  satisfactory 
explanation  for  the  appearance  of  geniuses  has  yet  been 
put  forward.  A  literary  genius  may  spring  into  existence 
from  any  civilized  quarter.  So  also  may  a  great  literary 
movement.  Its  coming  is  not  always  foreshadowed  or 


CHUKCHMAN  AND  MAN  OF  LETTEKS  53 

heralded ;  they  come  when  and  whence  least  expected,  and 
often  they  come  unto  their  own  and  their  own  receive 
them  not.  The  Anglo-Saxon  lyric  and  epic,  Deor's  Com- 
plaint, Beowulf,  and  the  poems  of  Caedmon  and  Cyne- 
wulf  arose  from  the  unknown  past;  the  thirteenth  century 
romance  was  not  a  result,  but  came  out  of  that  period 
of  blight  and  death  following  the  Norman  Conquest; 
Shakespeare's  unsurpassed  genius  blossomed  on  the  medi- 
ocrities that  succeeded  to  the  genius  of  Chaucer.  There 
is,  in  truth,  a  tide  in  the  fortunes  of  literature,  but  a 
tide  ungoverned  by  invariable  laws. 

In  turning  to  prose  we  must  be  prepared  to  modify 
our  view  on  the  theory  of  the  progression.  The  theory, 
like  all  theory,  lends  itself  to  the  abuse  of  exaggeration, 
but  in  prose  it  has  some  foundation  in  experience.  Some 
may  see  a  development  from  King  Alfred  to  our  own  day. 
We  are  not  prepared  to  grant  such  comprehensive  con- 
cessions, but  one  must  admit  that  there  is,  in  the  history 
of  English  prose,  a  slower,  steadier  and  more  continuous 
development  than  in  poetry,  since  in  the  latter  there  is 
greater  freedom  and  less  hampering  by  predominant 
forms  and  tastes  of  the  age.  The  literary  genius  is  pri- 
marily an  artist,  and  naturally  seeks  the  most  perfect 
medium  of  expression  for  his  intellectual  and  emotional 
experience.  This  medium  is  poetry  with  its  charm  of 
expression,  and  harmony  of  rhythm,  in  which  the  caprice 
of  genius  is  poured  forth  impulsively  rather  than  under 
the  dominance  of  any  laws  of  progression;  while,  on  the 
other  hand,  prose,  the  medium  of  expression  for  exact 
thinking  and  exact  description,  is  more  dependent  upon 
and  determined  by  the  exigencies  of  form  and  taste  of 
the  age.  The  atmosphere  of  chivalry  in  the  thirteenth 
and  early  part  of  the  fourteenth  centuries  was  not  an 
atmosphere  for  didactics  and  polemics  but  rather  an 
atmosphere  of  green  woodlands,  sparkling  brooks,  old 
castles,  fair  ladies,  champing  steeds  and  warrior  knights. 


54  REGINALD  PECOCK 

The  thirteenth  century  romance  supplied  this  demand. 
Didactics  and  polemics  came  into  their  own  shortly  after 
this,  when  Wycliffe  initiated  the  movement  against  the 
Church.  Both  sides  of  the  controversy  felt  the  need  of 
exact  and  vigorous  expression.  In  this  period,  this  age  of 
Wycliffe  and  Pecock,  English  prose  received  an  impetus 
that  has  come  down  to  us.  Later,  in  the  sixteenth  century 
when  men  felt  so  keenly,  yes  bitterly,  about  religious  and 
political  matters,  we  find  English  prose  under  Fisher, 
More,  Latimer  and  Thomas  Elliot,  and  finally  under 
Tyndal,  reaching  one  of  the  highest  pinnacles  of  develop- 
ment in  its  history.  Finally  in  the  nineteenth  century, 
the  age  that  sees  the  Romantic  revival,  the  age  of  great 
political  and  religious  controversy,  the  age  of  the  Novel, 
the  form  of  exact  expression  and  exact  description,  we 
find  English  prose  in  its  golden  age. 

Let  us  return  to  fifteenth  century  prose.  Until  quite 
towards  the  close  of  the  fourteenth  century,  England  can 
hardly  be  said  to  have  possessed  any  prose  literature  not 
avowedly  or  practically  of  a  didactic  character.  "To 
save  some  one's  soul  or  to  improve  some  one's  morals 
were  seemingly  the  only  motives  which  could  suffice  to 
persuade  an  Englishman  to  write  his  native  language 
except  in  verse.''1  It  is  a  commonplace  to  remark  that 
the  greatest  work  in  the  field  of  English  literature  even 
up  to  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century  was  executed  in 
verse.  We  have  already  observed  that  the  impulse  to  prose 
writing  began  in  earnest  with  the  period  of  Wy cliff e's 
attack. 

The  fifteenth  century  is  one  of  the  most  difficult 
periods  to  understand.  The  sources  of  its  history  are 
often  obscure,  and  for  the  most  part  fragmentary.  More- 
over, in  the  presence  of  all  the  confusion  arising  from 
political  struggles,  wars,  pestilence,  famine  and  religious 


1.  Pollard,  Alf.  W.,  Fifteenth  Century  Prose  and  Verse,  p.  XIX. 
Fifteenth  Century  Prose  and  Verse. 


CHUECHMAN  AND  MAN  OF  LETTERS  55 

strife,  we  are  apt  to  pass  over  this  period  in  the  conven- 
tional fashion  with  the  summary  remark  that  all  was 
confusion  and  darkness,  transitory  and  mediocre.  In 
the  development  of  constitutional  institutions  of  the 
period,  this  is,  according  to  Professor  Tout,  a  serious 
exaggeration.  It  is  also  an  exaggeration  to  state  that  all 
was  decline  in  the  literary  world.  Dr.  Gairdner  very 
aptly  remarks,  "We  are  apt  to  transfer  to  the  age  itself 
the  difficulties  which  we  encounter,  forgetting  that  the 
forces  which  were  to  produce  the  Renaissance  were 
already  at  work  and  indeed  beginning  to  bear  fruit."* 

No  transition  period  in  English  literature  has  been 
more  attacked  and  maltreated  than  this.  In  their 
attempts  to  throw  greater  lustre  upon  the  Elizabethan 
outburst  of  original  work,  literary  historians  of  the  old 
school  were  accustomed  to  place  the  English  Mandeville 
nearly  half  a  century  too  early;  they  ignored  or  very 
summarily  passed  over  very  worthy  attempts  at  dramatic 
production  in  this  period,  reserving  their  attention  and 
their  praise  for  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century.  It 
was  also  their  wont  to  attribute  to  the  sixteenth  century, 
as  a  special  characteristic,  the  industry  of  translators, 
when,  really,  men  had  been  earnestly  pioneering  intthis 
field  at  least  as  early  as  1380/ 

There  has  been  a  disappointment  arising  from  the 
achievements  of  fifteenth  century  literary  endeavours,  a 
disappointment  from  expectation  not  well  founded,  and 
from  a  lack  of  the  proper  understanding  of  the  great  fer- 
mentation that  was  taking  place  not  merely  in  matters 
political  and  religious,  but  even  in  the  literary  world. 
The  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries  were  closed 
volumes,  they  were  past  history.  Their  ideals  and  aspir- 
ations and  viewpoint  were  those  of  a  truly  great  people, 
but  these  all  passed  with  them.  It  was  a  new  people  with 

2.  Gairdner,  Pa-ston  Letters  1,  318. 

3.  Ten  Brink  History  of  English  Literature,  ed.  W.  Clarke  Robinson, 
vol.  II  and  L.  Dora  Schmitz,  vol.  III. 


56  REGINALD  PECOCK 

a  different  viewpoint  who  were  to  succeed.  This  new 
era  was  to  be  "the  century  of  the  commons, "  and  this 
'  '  century  of  the  commons ' '  was  to  imprint  itself  on  every 
phase  of  the  life  of  the  people.  Certainly,  there  is  great 
disappointment  in  comparing  Hoccleve  and  Lydgate  with 
Chaucer;  Chaucer  is  the  exception,  however.  The  pro- 
gression theorists  naturally  would  expect  something  from 
the  promise  of  the  great  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  cen- 
turies. With  Chaucer  as  the  height  of  these  centuries^ 
attainment  what  could  they  not  expect,  according  to  their 
own  theories,  in  the  century  that  followed  ? 

A  retracing  of  steps  was  absolutely  necessary,  and 
this  is  especially  true  as  regards  prose.  It  is  this  retrac- 
ing of  steps,  or  better  marking  time,  that  is  looked  upon 
as  decline.  In  fact,  it  is  the  first  healthy  advance  taken. 
Without  it  a  strong,  healthy,  vigorous  English  prose 
would  never  have  been  possible.  Latin  and  French  had 
to  be  driven  from  the  domination  of  English  letters.  They 
were  the  foreign  domination  in  the  literary  sphere,  and 
as  long  as  they  held  sway  the  native  tongue  remained 
inert  and  declined.  Henry  V's  victories  in  France  and 
the^rst  displacement  of  French  or  Latin  by  English  as 
the  official  medium  of  correspondence  were  not  mere  coin- 
cidences ;  it  was  the  new  spirit  asserting  itself.  The  lan- 
guage of  the  common  people  was  coming  to  its  own  in 
"the  century  of  the  commons. " 

There  was  a  general  demand  for  education,  in  this 
age.  To  be  able  to  read  and  to  write  was  no  longer  a 
distinction  and  rare  privilege  of  the  upper  class.  The 
Paston  Letters  give  testimony  of  this  fact.  Dr.  Gairdner 
says:  "From  the  extreme  scarcity  of  original  letters  of 
such  an  early  date  we  are  too  easily  led  to  undervalue 
the  culture  and  civilization  of  the  age.  But  the  standard 
of  education  was  by  no  means  so  low,  and  its  advantages 
by  no  means  so  exceptionally  distributed  as  might  be 


CHUKCHMAN  AND  MAN  OF  LETTERS  57 

otherwise  supposed.'^  Above  the  class  of  ordinary 
labourer,  no  one  seems  to  have  been  wholly  illiterate.  All 
could  write  and  most  persons  could  express  themselves  in 
writing  with  fluency  and  ease.  The  nobility  were  the 
worst  writers,  and  Dr.  Gairdner  observes  that  their  spell- 
ing and  handwriting  alike  were  outrageous.  William  Bing- 
ham  draws  an  extreme  picture  in  his  lamentation  over  the 
condition  of  the  grammar  schools  of  the  period.  William 
Bingham,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind,  was  one  of  the 
old  school  who  saw  decline  in  the  fact  that  native  English 
was  beginning  to  supplant  Latin  as  the  principal  medium 
of  communication.  He  says:  "The  grammar  schools 
which  used  to  be  flourishing  and  numerous,  had  decayed 
for  want  of  masters,  and  that  the  faculty  of  grammar  was 
much  neglected  both  in  the  Universities  of  Oxford  and 
Cambridge,  and  in  the  country  generally,  whereby  not 
merely  was  the  knowledge  of  sacred  scripture  and  Latin 
requisite  for  the  pursuit  of  the  law,  and  the  affairs  of 
the  realm  likely  to  perish,  but  also  the  power  of  communi- 
cating with  foreigners. '  '5  Moved  by  these  considerations 
Bingham  founded  Clare  Hall  at  Cambridge.  His  testi- 
mony, however,  is  rather  a  proof  that  real  progress  was 
being  made  in  the  use  of  the  English  language. 

French  was  also  giving  way.  In  the  reign  of  Henry 
V  the  fact  that  Richard  Beauchamp,  Earl  of  Warwick, 
could  speak  French  fluently  was  regarded  as  something 
of  an  accomplishment.6  At  the  beginning  of  the  fifteenth 
century,  Latin  or  Anglo-French  was  the  usual  medium  of 
expression  for  letters  or  semi-official  documents;  but 
before  the  middle  of  the  century,  men  of  public  affairs, 
politicians  and  statesmen,  regularly  made  use  of  their 
native  language  in  their  correspondence.  Latin  or  French 
was  still  the  language  of  diplomacy.  However,  Charles 

4.  Gairdner   Paston  Letters   1,   318. 

5.  Cal.  Patent  Rolls.  Hen.  VI,  III,  295. 

6.  Kingsford,  English  Historical  Literature  in  15th  Century,  p.  195. 


58  REGINALD  PECOCK 

the  Bold  writes  with  his  own  hand  in  English  to  the 
governor  of  Calais.7 

The  demand  for  education  was  not  confined  to  the 
upper  classes.  Since  Agincourt,  in  1415,  and  Calais,  in 
1436,  a  great  wave  of  patriotism  had  swept  over  the 
country,  and  men  felt  the  pressing  need  of  being  able  to 
express  themselves  clearly  in  their  native  English.  In 
1445  four  grammar  schools  were  founded  in  London, 
where  there  were  already  a  number  of  similar  institu- 
tions.5 Under  Henry  V,  education  made  marked  prog- 
ress. The  scholar  and  man  of  letters  found  in  him  a 
patron,  not  a  mere  dilettante,  but  a  fond  reader  of  goodly 
tales  and  works  on  hunting  and  even  chronicles  and  works 
of  theology.  It  was  his  brother,  however,  the  "good" 
Duke  Humphrey  of  Gloucester,  in  whom  the  scholar  found 
a  patron  and  a  great  advocate  of  the  new  learning  in 
England.  His  library  at  the  University  of  Oxford  still 
proclaims  to  the  world  his  scholarly  interest  in  books  and 
in  men  of  letters.  He  did  a  great  work  for  the  revival 
of  letters  in  England  in  establishing  a  connection  be- 
tween the  representatives  of  the  continental  Renaissance 
and  the  patrons  of  the  revival  in  England.  He  carried  on 
a  personal  correspondence  with  Italian  humanists  like 
Leonardo  Bruni  and  Pier  Candido  Decembri.  It  was  said 
of  him  by  the  University  of  Oxford,  that  under  his  patron- 
age Greek  was  coming  to  life.5 

The  zeal  for  learning  was  not  confined  to  the  noble 
efforts  of  Duke  Humphrey  of  Gloucester.  It  was  Walter, 
Lord  Hungerford,  who  encouraged  the  pseudo-Elinham 
to  write  his  "Life  of  Henry  V."10  James  Butler,  fourth 
Earl  of  Ormonde,  had  in  his  service  scholars  like  James 
Young,  who  englished  the  "Secreta  Secretorum."  The 


7.  Kirk,  Charles  tJie  Bold,  ii,  70. 

8.  Leach,   Educational  Charters,   pp.   XXXVII   and   XXXVIII.     Also 
Kingsford,  ibid.,  p.  195,  sq. 

9.  Epistolae  Academicae,  p.  203. 

10.  Preface  of  All  Souls  M.  S. 


CHUKCHMAN  AND  MAN  OF  LETTEES  59 

Earls  of  Warwick  and  Salisbury  gave  freely  of  their 
patronage  to  Lydgate,  and  Cardinal  Beaufort  assisted 
Hardyng.  Adam  Moleyns,  Thomas  Bekynton,  and  John 
Somerset,  men  of  scholarly  tastes,  were  friendly  to 
scholars.  The  kept  up  a  friendship  with  the  men  of 
letters  in  England  and  in  Italy.  Moreover,  young  men 
like  William  Grey,  John  Phreas  or  Free  and  John  Gun- 
thorpe,  scholars  of  Balliol  College,  went  to  Italy  to  study 
under  Guarini  at  Ferrara.11  William  Sellyng,  a  fellow  of 
All  Souls,  and  afterwards  prior  of  Christ  Church,  Canter- 
bury, made  more  than  one  visit  to  Italy,  and  collected 
Latin  and  Greek  MSS.  Certainly,  as  Kingsford  remarks, 
that  learning  cannot  have  been  altogether  dead,  which 
gave  his  succession  of  scholars  their  first  training.  An- 
other succession  of  scholars  is  to  be  seen  in  Thomas 
Bekynton,  William  Waynflete,  John  Morton,  and  John 
Russell,  who  were  trained  at  Oxford  for  the  service  of  the 
state.  These  men  in  the  midst  of  their  other  duties  still 
retained  their  scholarly  tastes.  Anthony  Woodville  was 
a  nobleman  of  culture,  and,  like  Tiptaft,  translated  into 
English,  works  which  Caxton  printed. 

We  have  seen  something  of  the  growing  interest  in 
education  and  in  English  letters,  as  evinced  by  the  moral 
and  material  support  given  it  from  every  quarter.  We 
shall  now  see  to  what  extent  this  new  enthusiasm  ex- 
pressed itself  in  actual  results.  John  of  Trevisa,  Vicar  of 
Berkley,  while  appearing  earlier  than  the  period  which 
we  are  treating,  really  belongs  to  the  movement.  His 
great  work,  which  was  supposed  to  have  been  finished  in 
1387,  was  his  translation  of  Higden's  Polychronicon.  It 
is  an  interesting  specimen  of  the  earliest  English  prose. 
In  addition  to  this,  two  other  translations,  one  of  "Vege- 
tius"  and  the  other  of  "Aegidius  Romanus,"  are  attrib- 
uted to  him.  According  to  Caxton,  and  it  is  a  mere 
supposition,  he  was  supposed  to  have  translated  the  Bible. 

11.  Kingsford,  ibid.,  p.  6. 


60  REGINALD  PECOCK 

But  Trevisa's  really  great  contribution  to  English  prose 
was  to  prepare  the  way  for  others  to  follow  along  more 
original  lines. 

The  unqualified  statement  that  the  period  was  medi- 
ocre and  barren,  is  indeed  misleading.  We  must  not  make 
the  mistake  of  passing  over,  with  a  conventional  observa- 
tion, the  important  and  vital  work  that  must  be  accom- 
plished with  yeoman  plodding  and  industry  in  any  initial 
stage  of  development  if  the  final  results  are  to  be  crowned 
with  the  glories  of  the  blossoming  period.  Unfortunately, 
too,  often  the  blossoming  period  receives  more  than  a 
just  due  of  the  harvest  of  praise  and  recognition.  What 
we  have  seen  of  the  results  of  the  period,  and  more 
important  still,  what  has  been  destroyed  in  the  succeed- 
ing generations  during  the  pillaging  and  firing  of  monas- 
teries, is  sufficient  to  convince  us  that  the  English  world 
was  anything  but  lacking  in  intellectual  and  literary 
interests. 

We  find  the  monks  at  work  in  their  copying  rooms, 
and  the  rich  abbeys  not  only  turning  out  good  books  but 
laying  the  foundations  for  the  literary  medium  of  history 
as  is  seen  from  the  sequence  of  chronicles  produced  in 
the  Abbey  of  St.  Albans.^  The  work  of  one  monk,  John 
Capgrave  (b.  Apr.  21,  1393,  d.  Aug.  12,  1464),  a  priest  of 
the  order  of  Austin  Friars  is,  even  in  its  extensiveness, 
phenomenal.  At  one  time  he  was  provincial  of  the  order 
in  England,  but  a  greater  and  more  lasting  distinction 
is  his  because  of  his  scholarly  attainments.  He  wrote  in 
both  Latin  and  English.  Amongst  his  works  in  Latin 
are  his  "Chronicle  of  England,"  "Book  of  the  Noble 
Henries, "  his  commentaries  on  the  Pentateuch,  Joshua, 
Judges,  Ruth  and  the  Books  of  Kings.  His  other  com- 
mentaries are  on  the  Psalter,  Ecclesiastes,  Isaias,  Daniel 
and  the  Twelve  Minor  Prophets;  on  the  Epistles  of  St. 
Paul;  on  the  Canonical  Epistles,  the  Acts,  and  Apoca- 


12.  Ten  Brink,  op.  cit.,  vol.  Ill,  pp.  16-21. 


CHUKCHMAN  AND  MAN  OF  LETTERS  61 

lypse.  He  also  contributed  works  on  the  Creeds;  also  a 
"Manual  of  Christian  Doctrine";  "Theological  Conclu- 
sions ";  "Sermons  for  a  Year";  " Scholastic  Lectures"; 
"Ordinary  Disputations";  "Addresses  to  the  Clergy  on 
the  Sentences  of  Peter  Lombard";  "On  the  Followers 
of  St.  Augustine";  "Of  Illustrious  Men  of  the  Order  of 
St.  Augustine";  "The  Life  of  St.  Augustine";  the  "Life 
of  Duke  Humphrey  of  Gloucester."  In  English  he  wrote 
the  "Life  of  St.  Gilbert  of  Sempringham, "  the  only 
manuscript  of  which  was  destroyed  by  fire  in  1731.  He 
also  contributed  in  English  rhyme  "The  Life  of  St. 
Katherine"  three  manuscripts  of  which  still  remain. 
Certainly,  in  the  presence  of  available  evidence  the  charge 
of  slothfulness  can  not  be  sustained,  nor  can  it  be  said 
that  literary  interests  were  confined  to  the  exceptional 
few,  and  that  industry  in  this  field  is  to  be  found  only 
with  such  men  as  Wycliffe  and  Pecock. 

Another  interesting  phase  in  the  development  of 
prose  in  this  period  is  to  be  seen  in  the  contemporary 
chronicles.  The  English  Chronicles  of  London  begin  to 
take  shape.  In  1430  a  full  version  was  probably  compiled. 
From  this,  two  versions  appeared;  one  in  1431,  and  the 
other  in  the  following  year.  The  importance  of  these 
versions  is  seen  from  this,  that  historical  prose  was 
beginning  to  take  on  distinctive  characteristics,  literary 
qualities  in  advance  of  the  traditional  methods  used  in 
the  monasteries.  The  deep,  growing  interest  in  these 
productions  is  another  healthy  manifestation;  within 
three  years  three  distinct  versions  were  in  demand.  This 
interest  was  concommitant  with  the  wave  of  patriotism 
which  was  sweeping  the  country.  The  chronicles  assur- 
edly give  evidence  of  the  awakening  of  this  vigorous 
national  feeling.  The  main  narrative  of  "The  Great 
English  Chronicle  of  the  Brut"  is  a  rehandling  of  the 
material  contained  in  the  London  Chronicles;  but  the 
significant  characteristic  is  this,  that  the  writers  make 


62  REGINALD  PECOCK 

use  of  such  sources  as  ballads  and  popluar  poems  as  in 
the  case  of  Agincourt,  the  siege  of  Rouen,  and  the  defence 
of  Calais.  We  find  ourselves  in  the  presence  of  a  marked 
stage  of  continuous,  progressive  development.  The 
literary  achievement  may  not  be  of  a  high  order,  still  it 
is  a  step  forward  and  promising,  springing  from  the 
commercial  classes.^5 

Trevisa's  translations  do  not  stand  alone  in  this 
period.  Occasionally  instances  are  met  where  works  in 
verse  form  are  turned  into  prose,  as  is  the  case  of  one  of 
the  versions  of  the  "Life  of  Adam  and  Eve."  Later  in 
the  fifteenth  century  a  number  of  the  "  Lives  of  the 
Saints "  were  translated  from  Latin  into  English  prose. 
Legends  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  were  also  written  in  prose. 
An  English  priest  compiled  for  a  noble  lady,  his  penitent, 
a  life  of  St.  Jerome  from  the  ' '  Legenda  Aurea '  '  and  from 
correspondence  between  St.  Augustine  and  St.  Cyril.  The 
purpose  of  the  work  was,  that  the  noble  lady  and  others 
might  learn  therefrom  how  to  live  and  how  to  die.  A 
monk,  probably  of  the  northeast  Midlands,  translated,  at 
the  request  of  his  prior,  the  legends  of  four  female  saints 
from  Latin  into  the  vernacular. 

There  were  also  the  prose-legends  that  began  to 
appear  at  an  early  date,  especially  in  Western  England. 
These  writings  were  primarily  for  the  religious  instruc- 
tion of  the  people,  and  also  to  assist  the  clergy  in  their 
preaching.  John  Myrc,  a  canon  regular  of  the  Augus- 
tinians  at  Lille  shall  in  Shropshire,  was  the  author  of  the 
first  of  these.  From  a  Latin  source  he  produced  in 
rhymed-couplets,  " Instructions  for  Parish  Priests."^ 
This  he  afterwards  brought  out  in  prose.  Another  of 
his  set  of  sermons  is  the  "  Liber  Festivalis"  or  the 
"Festial,"  written  about  the  beginning  of  the  fifteenth 
century.  The  source  of  this  was  the  "Golden  Legend," 


13.  Kingsford,  op.  cit.,  p.  78. 

14.  Pub.  by  Early  Eng.  Text  Society. 


CHUKCHMAN  AND  MAN  or  LETTERS  63 

which  he  used  very  freely.  He  does  not  make  use  of  as 
many  legends  as  did  Jacobus  of  Genoa,  although  he  added 
several  new  ones  such  as  that  of  St.  Alkmund,  patron 
saint  of  Lilleshall  church,  and  that  of  St.  Wenefrede  of 
Wales.  Later,  in  1438,  the  "Legenda  Aurea"  was 
translated  again  by  an  anonymous  individual  who  signed 
himself  a  "pore  sinner. "  This  translation  was  made 
from  one  of  the  existing  French  versions. 

Another  author,  a  contemporary  of  John  Myrc,  also 
left  many  sermons  which  are  preserved  in  libraries  and 
museums.  This  was  John  Felton,  vicar  of  St.  Mary 
Magdalen,  and  Fellow  of  Mary  Magdalen  College,  Ox- 
ford. His  course  of  Sunday  sermons,  some  fifty-eight  in 
number,  was  much  used  by  his  successors  in  preaching. 
He  tells  us  in  his  preface  that  he  purposed  to  draw  up 
the  course  of  sermons  founded  on  the  Gospels  of  the 
Sundays,  in  order  to  assist  priests  in  instructing  the 
faithful  and  also  to  assist  students  of  moral  and  dogmatic 
theology  who  were  poor  and  could  not  buy  books.15 

A  work  that  was  very  popular,  not  merely  in  the 
fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries,  but  even  as  late  as  the 
seventeenth,  when  it  was  again  circulated  in  manuscript, 
and  may  have  suggested  to  Bunyan  his  "Pilgrim's 
Progress,"  was  that  of  a  French  monk,  Guillaume  de 
Deguileville.  Deguileville,  a  Cistercian  of  the  Abbey  of 
Chalis  in  the  diocese  of  Senlis,  wrote  his  "Pelerinage  de  la 
Vie  Humaine"  sometime  between  1330  and  1331.  This 
was  followed  by  his  "Pelerinage  de  L'Ame  Humaine."  In 
1358  he  produced  the  "Pelerinage  de  Jesu  Christ."  He 
himself  admits  that  he  was  largely  under  the  influence 
of  the  great  work,  the  "Roman  de  la  Rose."  Jean 
Gallopes,  a  French  priest  of  English  extraction,  trans- 
lated the  first  two  "Pelerinages"  into  English  prose, 
sometime  in  the  fifteenth  century  before  1435,  about  the 
same  time  that  the  original  text  of  the  "Pelerinage  de  la 


15.  Harl  MS.  861,  fol.  2.     Sennones  Dominicales  were  pub.  1431. 


64  REGINALD  PECOCK 

Vie  Humaine"  was  translated  into  the  prose  of  the  South- 
English  dialect,  and  another  version  was  produced  at  a 
later  date  in  the  Northern  dialect. 

There  is  one  work  of  the  first  half  of  the  fifteenth 
century  which  for  maturity  and  ease,  and  freedom  of 
expression,  stands  next  to  the  productions  of  Reginald 
Pecock.  Long  before  Caxton  printed  it  in  1490,  it  had 
influenced  a  dramatic  poet.  The  author  of  the  moral 
play  "Spirit,  Will  and  Understanding"  is  indebted  to 
"The  Sevene  Payntes"  for  his  theological  learning. 
"The  Sevene  Payntes"  is  an  adaptation  from  the 
German,  "Biichlein  der  "Weisheit,"  the  work  of  a  German 
Dominican.  The  work  was  very  popluar  in  the  Middle 
Ages,  and  in  Germany  is  said  to  have  had  a  wider  circula- 
tion than  the  "De  Imitatione  Christi."16 

A  striking  characteristic  of  the  literary  works  of 
this  period  is  their  great  dependence  upon  foreign  sources 
in  matter  and  literary  form.  The  principal  literary 
treasures  were  in  Latin  and  French,  a  considerable  part 
of  the  latter  consisting  of  translations  from  the  former. 
At  this  period  of  development  the  French  were  just  one 
stage  in  advance  of  that  in  England.  English  insularity 
in  more  ways  than  one,  and  the  French  proximity  to 
the  centre  of  the  revival  in  Italy,  account  for  this.  This 
must  be  said,  however,  that  while  the  English  prose 
translations  of  the  period  are,  for  the  most  part,  imita- 
tive, still  there  is  with  each  successive  attempt  a  personal 
and  original  recasting,  a  fuller  development,  particularly 
in  the  power  of  description,  and  epic  qualities.  An 
English  prose  rendering  of  one  of  the  earliest  English 
romances  is  the  history  of  King  Ponthus  of  Galicia  and 
the  beautiful  Sidogne,  daughter  of  the  King  of  Little 
Bretagne.  This  is  based  on  a  prose  version  in  the  French. 
Another  important  translation,  made  in  the  reign  of 
Henrv  VI,  was  that  of  the  veritable  literarv  treasure 


16.  Ten  Brink  Eng.  Lit.  ed.  Dr.  Aleis  Brandl,  vol.  II,  pt.  II,  p.  7. 


CHUECHMAN  AND  MAN  OF  LETTERS  65 

house,  the  "Roman  de  Merlin. "  The  author,  Robert  de 
Boron,  a  Frenchman,  produced  the  original  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  thirteenth  century,  bringing  the  narrative  up 
to  the  crowning  of  Arthur.  Later  the  work  is  supple- 
mented with  the  additional  history  of  the  King  and  his 
knights  to  the  coming  of  Lancelot  to  the  court.  It  is  this 
fuller  version  of  the  " Roman  de  Merlin"  which  was 
translated  into  English  prose. 

Before  concluding  our  sketch  of  the  prose  of  the 
period  we  feel  that  a  few  observations  upon  another  most 
important  phase  of  English  prose  development  are  nec- 
essary. It  was  at  this  time  that  political  prose,  began  to 
give  signs  of  reawakening.  Previous  to  this  there  was 
the  already  mentioned  "Aegidius  Romanus,"  "The 
Mirror  of  Princes,"  and  in  addition  attempts  had  been 
made  in  handling  such  themes  as  the  '"Commodytes  of 
England."  With  the  outbreak  of  the  Wars  of  the  Roses, 
a  champion  of  the  Lancastrian  cause  arose  in  the  person 
of  Sir  John  Fortescue,  the  first  great  writer  on  political 
subjects.  In  the  midst  of  the  struggle,  the  heat  of  relig- 
gious  controversy  abated  temporarily,  and  men  became 
allied  in  the  two  hostile  camps,  according  to  their  political 
sympathies.  Fortescue,  in  his  enthusiasm  for  his 
espoused  views,  gave  expression  to  them  in  both  Latin  and 
his  native  English.  In  many  respects  his  coming  forth  re- 
sembles that  of  Pecock.  He  came  a  zealous  champion  with 
a  keen  intelligence  and  a  virile  gift  of  expression,  stand- 
ing next  to  Pecock  as  a  representative  of  the  period.  He 
was  another  man  of  the  hour,  whose  literary  career  had 
its  origin  in  the  necessity  of  the  times  rather  than  being 
pursued  as  an  end  in  itself.  His  first  efforts  were  a  series 
of  political  pamphlets  written  partly  in  Latin  and  partly 
in  English.  But  the  work  upon  which  his  literary  repu- 
tation is  chiefly  founded  is  his  treatise  "On  the 
Governance  of  England,"  or  " Difference  between  Abso- 
lute and  limited  Monarchy."  Throughout  the  treatise  a 


66  REGINALD  PECOCK 

keen,  penetrating,  religious  mind  is  revealed.  In  these 
respects  he  strikingly  resembles  a  great  prose  writer  of 
a  somewhat  later  date,  Sir  Thomas  More. 

Among  the  various  factors  that  influenced  fifteenth 
century  literature,  leaving  upon  it  an  enduring  character, 
John  Wycliffe  and  the  English  Bible  stand  eminently  in 
relief.     No  study  of  the  prose  of  the  period  would  be 
complete  without  a  reference  to  them.    Whatever  diver- 
gent opinions  may  be  held  of  Wycliffe 's  sincerity  and 
zeal,  or  of  Wycliffe  as  a  religious  reformer,  this  is  cer- 
tain :  He  stands  alone  as  a  literary  figure  in  his  own  age. 
Very  few  writers  in  the  history  of  English  literature,  and 
especially  in  the  history  of  prose  development,  have  given 
such  an  impetus  to  the  language.     His  influence  is  both 
direct  and  indirect;  direct  in  his  own  contributions,  and 
indirect  insofar  as  be  wielded  a  power  over  his  own  fol- 
lowers and  also  upon  others  of  his  age.  The  influence 
which  he  exerted  indirectly  was  far  greater,  perhaps,  than 
that  arising  from  his  own  personal  literary  contributions. 
That  his  controversy  and  attack  upon  the  church,  which 
was  taken  up  by  his  followers,  gave  a  character  and  a 
coloring  to  the  writing  of  the  period  is  undeniable.    When 
men  feel  keenly  they  give  vent  to  their  emotional  experi- 
ence through  some  medium  of  expression,  as  marble, 
colour  or  harmony,  or  even  language.    This  intellectual 
together  with  emotional  experience  when  conformed  to 
language  may  be  said  to  comprise  the  art  of  literature. 
At  this  particular  time  in  history  men  did  feel  keenly  on 
matters  of  religious  controversy.     WyclifTe  led  in  the 
movement;  he  was  the  intellectual  of  the  faction,  whose 
fire  and  zeal  inflamed  every  individual  of  his  followers. 

The  religious  movement  led  to  great  efforts  in  a  liter- 
ary way.  Pamphlets  and  tracts  and  treatises  poured 
forth,  and  in  turn  men  like  Pecock  thrust  themselves  into 
the  heat  of  the  controversy  in  defence  of  orthodoxy.  The 
times  give  evidence  of  great  efforts  being  made  on  both 


CHURCHMAN  AND  MAN  OF  LETTERS  67 

sides;  WycliffVs  works  are  voluminous,  while  the  list  of 
the  non-extant  works  alone,  with  which  Pecock  met  the 
attack,  give  some  idea  of  the  enthusiasm  with  which 
men  entered  the  contest.  The  opponents  in  the  contro- 
versy seem  to  have  read  the  signs  of  the  time,  since 
both  parties  were  thoroughly  awakened  to  the  growing 
enthusiasm  for  the  revival  of  knowledge  and  especially 
to  the  enthusiasm  for  the  native  language.  At  a  glance 
it  can  be  seen  what  effect  this  would  have  upon  the  ver- 
nacular literature.  What  would  naturally  be  expected 
did  actually  happen.  Men  delved  into  every  available 
source  whence  they  could  draw  power  for  their  weapons 
of  attack  and  defense ;  into  the  Fathers  and  Doctors  of  the 
Church,  into  legends  and  chronicles,  into  the  ancient 
philosophers  and  theologians  and  particularly  into  the 
Scriptures.17 

No  other  one  book  has  impressed  itself  upon  English 
literature  as  have  the  Sacred  Scriptures.  To  the  English 
language  it  has  been  a  great  reservoir  to  which  the  lan- 
guage of  successive  generations  has  returned  for  new 
life  and  pristine  purity.  Literature  is  indebted  to 
Wycliffe,  although  it  is  evident  in  the  light  of  renewed 
research,  that  his  work  in  the  matter  of  translating  the 
Bible  has  been  greatly  exaggerated.  One  must  not  for- 
get that  the  movement  to  popularize  the  vernacular  text 
had  a  great  influence  upon  the  future  literary  history  of 
the  country.  That  the  same  results  would  have  event- 
ually come  about  we  have  no  doubt;  still,  one  cannot 
dissociate  Wycliffe  from  the  popularization  of  the  Scrip- 
tures and  from  the  movement  that  accomplished  it  at 
an  earlier  date  than  would  otherwise  have  been  done. 

That  the  popularization  of  the  Sacred  Text  would 
have  eventually  been  accomplished  seems  certain,  since, 
contrary  to  a  prevailing  false  view,  there  is  nothing  in 


17.  See  list  at  end  of  Babington's  edit,  of  the  Represser.     It  mani- 
fests an  extensive  reading  experience  in  Pecock. 


68  REGINALD  PECOCK 

the  teaching  or  attitude  of  the  Catholic  (Yurch  that  would 
have  frustrated  it.  This  is  quite  evident  from  the  frag- 
mentary portions  of  the  vernacular  Scriptures  still  extant 
in  various  museums,  libraries  and  monasteries.  In  Eng- 
land during  Anglo-Saxon  times  we  find  Caedmoni5  giving 
several  passages  of  Scripture.  Aldhelm,  Bishop  of  Sher- 
born  (d.  709),  is  reported  to  have  rendered  the  Psalter 
into  his  native  language.15  Venerable  Bede  (d.  735), 
rendered  the  Lord's  Prayer,  the  Apostles'  Creed  and  the 
Gospel  of  St.  John  into  Anglo-Saxon/0  Also  to  the 
period  of  Aldhelm  may  be  ascribed  the  Anglo-Saxon 
translation  of  the  Gospels/1 

Up  to  the  age  of  Wy cliff e  there  was  no  great  need  for 
a  version  of  the  Scriptures  in  English.  French  was 
actually  the  language  of  the  court  and  of  the  educated 
classes  until  after  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth  century. 
After  the  Norman  Conquest,  whilst  the  wants  of  the 
educated  classes  were  satisfied  by  the  Norman-French 
translations,  the  Anglo-Saxon  version  of  the  Gospels  was 
copied  as  late  as  the  12th  century.^  There  is  a  very 
interesting  collection  of  vernacular  versions  of  the  Scrip- 
tures in  the  British  Museum/5  There  are  Bohemian, 
Dutch  and  Italian,  the  dates  of  publication  of  which 
range  from  1466-1532/4  Certainly  the  idea  of  giving  the 
Sacred  Writings  to  the  people  did  not  originate  with 
Wycliffe  nor  with  Luther,  nor  with  any  of  their  contem- 
poraries and  colleagues. 


18.  Caedmon  was  a  monk  of  Whit  by  in  7th  century. 

19.  Bale  Scriptorwn  illus.  catalogus  ed.  1557,  p.  84. 

20.  Bede,  ep.  ad.  Egbertum,  see  Hist.  Eccl.  ed.  Smith  Cantab.  1722, 
p.  306. 

See  also,  Bodl.  Rush  worth  3946  (a  MS.  of  the  Bodl.  Lib.)  also  another 
gloss  in  the  famous  Bk.  of  Durham  Brit.  Mus.  Cotton.  Nero  D4. 

21.  Archp.  Parker  pub.  in  1571 ;  Dr.  Marshall,  rector  of  Lincoln  Col- 
lege, in  1665;  Mr.  Ben;).  Thorpe,  in  1842.     See  also  by  Sir  John  Spelman, 
entitled  1 1  Psalteriran  Davidis  Latino  Saxonicum  Vetus  4  Lond.  1640. 

22.  E.  M.  Thompson,  Wycliffe  Exhibition    (Brit.  Mus.),  p.  XVII. 

23.  See  Catalogue  of  1892. 

24.  Gasquet,  The  Old  Eng.  Bible  and  Other  Essays,  p.  102;   and  also 
Melbourne  1896,  The  Church  and  the  Bible. 


CHURCHMAN  AND  MAN  OF  LETTERS  69 

WyclinVs  actual  work  in  translating  the  Bible  has, 
as  we  have  observed,  been  greatly  exaggerated.  Sir  E. 
Maunde  Thompson,  principal  librarian  of  the  British 
Museum,  makes  this  comment :  "It  is  not  surprising  that 
much  has  been  ascribed  to  him  which  is  due  to  writers 
whose  names  have  died."  He  goes  on  to  say:  "The 
Commentary  on  the  Apocalypse,  which  probably  dates 
from  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth  century,  and  those  on 
the  Gospels  of  Sts.  Matthew,  Luke  and  John  were  all 
believed  to  be  the  works  of  his  pen,  although  recent  criti- 
cism has  rejected  his  claim  to  the  authorship/5  The  same 
author  observes  further  that  the  New  Testament  can  be 
said  probably  to  be  due,  "to  the  hand  of  Wycliffe  him- 
self. "  Of  the  second  or  revised  version  of  the  whole 
Scriptures,  he  says :  "  Wycliffe  himself,  who,  above  others, 
would  be  conscious  of  defects,  may  have  commenced  the 
work  of  revision.  He  did  not  however  live  to  see  it 
accomplished.  "S6  The  silence  of  his  contemporaries  and 
particularly  of  his  great  adversaries  is  significant.  Of 
all  those  who  wrote  so  voluminously  and  exhaustively  on 
his  errors  only  one  makes  mention  of  any  connection 
between  him  and  Scriptural  translations. 

Finally,  the  last  word,  as  far  as  the  evidence  is  avail- 
able on  the  WyclifTe  authorship,  has  been  said  by  Messrs. 
Forshall  and  Madden  in  their  introduction  to  the  edition 
of  the  WyclifTe  Scriptures.  They  have  compiled  what- 
ever evidence  is  at  hand.  Although  their  argument  is 
not  final,  still  they  are  at  one  with  Sir  E.  Maunde  Thomp- 
son in  the  conclusion  that  only  the  Gospels  can  with  any 
probability  be  ascribed  to  John  Wyeliffe/7 

25.  Wycliffe  Exhibition   (Brit.  Mus.),  p.  XVII. 

26.  Wycliffe  Exhibition    (Brit.  Mus.). 

27.  Forshall  and  Madden  "Introduction  to  ed.  of  the  Wycliffe  Script." 


70  REGINALD  PECOCK 

CHAPTER  IV 

PECOCK  's  REPRESSOR  AND  LOLLARDY 

In  the  two  preceding  chapters  we  have  attempted: 
first,  to  trace  the  origin  and  development  of  the  various 
factors  that  resulted  finally  in  the  social  and  religious 
conditions  that  necessitated,  in  the  opinion  of  the  Bishop 
of  Chichester,  the  bringing  forth  of  his  principal  work; 
and  secondly,  to  trace  those  forces  at  work  in  English 
prose  development  that  were  to  contribute  to  the  greatest 
English  prose  writing  of  the  fifteenth  century,  namely 
Pecock' s  Represser.  In  this  chapter  we  purpose  to  make 
a  study  of  this  principal  literary  production. 

Before  proceeding  to  a  review  of  Pecock's  Repres- 
sor,  we  will  attempt  a  better  understanding  of  the  author 
himself.  In  fact  this  is  essential  for  the  proper  grasp 
of  the  work  itself.  His  was  rather  a  unique  position,  that 
of  a  fifteenth  century  bishop  whose  one  ambition  was  to 
reconcile  the  heretic  to  the  Church,  but  who  in  turn  was 
himself  called  upon  to  answer  to  the  charge  of  heresy. 

It  does  not  fall  within  the  scope  of  this  present 
treatise  to  treat  in  a  conclusive  manner  the  theological 
views  of  the  author.  Our  present  object  is  literary  rather 
than  theological.  Nor  is  it  our  purpose  to  exonerate 
Pecock  from  the  charge  of  heresy.  Undoubtedly  there 
is  evidence  for  certain  of  the  charges  made  against  him, 
but  it  is  difficult  to  reconcile  the  majority  of  them  with 
the  actual  facts  set  forth  in  his  writings.  To  him  the 
Church  was  that  divinely  constituted  body,  the  visible 
head  of  which  is  the  Bishop  of  Rome  in  virtue  of  the  fact 
that  he  is  the  successor  of  Peter,  upon  whom  Jesus  Christ 
Himself  founded  this  Church.  No  contemporary  prelate 
in  England  had  greater  esteem  for  the  Papacy  than  had 
Reginald  Pecock.  In  an  age  when  abuses  arose  from  the 


CHUECHMAN  AND  MAN  OF  LETTEES  71 

manner  of  appointing  to  benefices,  and  thoroughly  ortho- 
dox bishops  protested  the  exercise  of  papal  power,  not 
in  matters  spiritual,  but  in  temporal  affairs,  the  author 
of  the  Repressor  stood  out  amongst  his  fellow  bishops 
in  defense  of  the  most  extreme  claims.  "Holy  Writt  of 
the  Newe  Testament,"  says  Pecock,  "makith  mensioun, 
Johun  firste  chapiter,  that  Crist  seide  to  Symount  Petir 
thus,  'Thou  art  'Symount  the  sone  of  Johanna,  thou  shalt 
be  clepid  Cephas/  or  heed;  and  thanne  Johun  settith  to 
this  l which  is  interpretid,  Petir'  and  bigynnyng,  and 
le  Cor.  xve4-c  in  the  bigynnyng  and  Galat.  toward  the 
myddis,  Poul  clepid  Petir  Cephas  .  .  .  thanne  her 
vpon  y  argue  thus :  Petir  was  heed  in  the  maner  in  which 
noon  of  the  othere  Apostolis  was  heed:  for  ellis  cause 
hadde  he  noon  good  whi  Crist  schulde  have  seid  so 
singulerli  to  him  and  not  othere  thus:  Thou  shalt  be 
callid  heed;  and  herwith  it  is  trewe,  that  no  thing  is  an 
heed  but  of  sum  certeyn  bodi;  wherefore  of  sum  bodi 
Petir  was  heed,  of  which  bodi  noon  of  the  othere  apostolis 
was  heed,  etc."1 

Granting  that  Pecock  was  a  heretic,  certain  quali- 
fications must  be  made  in  order  to  understand  the  man 
and  his  work.  Undoubtedly  it  would  have  greatly  grieved 
this  unique  defender  of  orthodoxy  to  have  been  classified 
with  WyclirTe  and  the  various  heresiarchs  that  preceded 
him,  or  with  Luther  and  the  numerous  founders  that 
succeeded  him.  Those  who  see  in  the  Bishop  of  Chi- 
chester  a  forerunner  of  the  fomenters  of  sixteenth  cen- 
tury dissensions,  or  even  of  the  modern  rationalist,  have 
not  a  comprehensive  understanding  of  his  mental  and 
religious  attitude  towards  the  traditional  authority  and 
teachings  of  the  Catholic  Church.  His  final  act  of  sub- 
mission even  to  a  local  tribunal  was  not  inconsistent,  as 
some  maintain,  but  quite  consistent  with  the  principles 
which  he  enunciated.  He  did  indeed  wander  off  on 
tangents  and  touch  upon  matters  rather  speculative  and 

1.  Represser.  Pt.  IV,  ch.  4. 


72  EEGINALD  PECOCK 

premature,  but  his  procedure  was  neither  singular  nor 
unprecedented.  He  was  thoroughly  aware  that  a  very 
wide  latitude  was  allowed  in  the  field  of  speculation. 
None  knew  better  than  he  what  really  constituted  heresy 
or  a  heretic.  A  man  is  a  heretic,  according  to  Pecock, 
"Wharme  he  trowith  a  falshede  contrarie  to  any  article 
of  the  feith  or  to  eny  conclusioun  folewing  out  of  an 
article  of  feith,  and  he  wold  obstynatly  cleeve  to  thilk 
fals  trowing  and  wole  not  leve  it  for  eny  sufficient  schew- 
ing  which  is  maad  to  hym  that  his  trowing  is  fals.'^ 

In  the  end  of  the  prologue  to  his  Reule  of  Crysten 
Religioun  our  author  very  clearly  sets  forth  this  atti- 
tude of  which  we  have  already  spoken.  It  seems  plain 
that  this  should  be  kept  before  the  reader  who  would 
attempt  to  understand  either  Pecock  or  his  writings.  He 
assures  us  that  it  is  far  from  his  intention  to  defend  in 
his  writings  any  error  or  heresy,  i.  e.  "eny  conciusioun 
which  is  azens  treuthe,  and  specialy  azens  the  feeth  or 
Law  of  oure  Lord  God  (or  ageyiis  the  determynacioun  of 
Goddis  Church  e  here  in  erthe)5  and  if  eny  such  it  happe 
me  to  write,  or  offre  or  purpose  holde  defende  or  favoure 
bi  eny  vnavisidnesse,  hastynes  or  ignoraunce  eer  than  y 
may  se  the  treuthe  or  bi  eny  other  maner,  y  schal  be  redy 
it  to  leeve,  forseake  and  retrete  mekely  and  devoutly  at 
the  assignementis  of  myn  ordynaries  fadris  of  the 
Chirche,  after  that  thei  han  take  sufficient  airsyng  there- 
upon. Yhe,  and  it  the  same  y  now  as  far  thanne  forsake 
and  leeve.  In  the  contrarie  maner  to  this  gouverance  y 
was  never  zit  hiderto  disposid,  y  thanke  my  Lord  God; 
and  y  purpose  never  in  contrarie  wise  to  be,  however  it 
happe  ouer  hastie  and  undiscreete  awaiters  and  back- 
biters, in  other  wise  of  me  f eele  or  diframe. ' ' 

This  statement  is  of  the  greatest*  importance  to  the 
proper  understanding  of  Pecock.    There  is  no  ambiguity. 

2.  Pecock 's,  The  Reule  of  Crysten  Kelig.,  Chap.  XIII. 

3.  Interlined  in  a  different  hand,  by  a  friend  and  perhaps  at  request 
of  Pecock.     We  know   that  Pecock   attempted- a   hurried   revision   of   his 
works  when  the  storm  burst  about  him. 


CHUKCHMAN  AND  MAN  OF  LETTERS  73 

The  terminology  is  precise,  the  reasoning*  clear  and  ex- 
haustive. It  is  the  reply  to  a  challenge,  and  a  reply  of 
one  fully  conscious  of  the  nature  of  the  challenge  and  the 
inimical  designs  of  an  unsympathetic  faction.  There  is 
no  statement  in  his  writings  more  characteristic  of 
Pecock.  It  is  sincere,  and  sincerity  was  one  of  his  great 
virtues.  This  virtue,  or  rather  the  weakness  which  often 
accompanies  it,  namely  rashness,  later  had  much  to  do 
in  bringing  about  his  downfall.  When  in  the  complete 
effulgence  of  his  noonday  glory,  the  unsuspected  quake 
shook  the  foundations  beneath  him;  when  the  real  sig- 
nificance and  seriousness  of  his  plight  were  thrust  in 
upon  him,  he  very  consistently  spoke  and  acted  upon  the 
principles  enunciated  in  this  statement.  There  were 
amongst  his  writings  certain  doctrines  that  could  be  taken 
as  dangerous,  but  far  from  his  intention  was  it  to  ex- 
pound or  disseminate  erroneous  opinions.  Many  of  his 
works  had  been  written  for  private  circulation  and  had 
gotten  abroad  before  being  revised.  He  did  not  wish, 
therefore,  to  be  responsible  for  any  work  written  prior 
to  the  year  1454.  Pecock  very  explicitly  admits  in  this 
pronouncement  the  possibility  of  error  in  his  writings, 
but  it  is  far  from  his  intention  to  sponsor  such  errors. 

The  prologue  to  The  Book  of  Faith  sheds  addi- 
tional light  upon  the  authors  attitude  towards  the  church, 
and  must  not  be  overlooked  in  a  study  of  the  author. 
Here  Pecock  sets  forth  the  expedient  to  which  he  has 
had  recourse  in  treating  controversial  matters.  In  his 
experience  he  finds  people  throughout  England,  who  in 
their  disobedience,  with  peril  to  their  souls,  tenaciously 
cling  to  the  authority  of  private  interpretation  of  Scrip- 
ture. He  desires  most  ardently  to  win  back  these  way- 
ward ones  to  the  truth.  To  speak  to  them  of  the  authority 
of  the  clergy  and  the  infallibility  of  the  Church  is  to 
draw  from  them  naught  but  laughter.  He  purposes 
therefore  to  approach  them  with  arguments  from  reason, 
namely:  although  a  teacher  may  fail,  we  ought  to 


74  REGINALD  PECOCK 

believe  him  in  so  far  as  it  is  not  known  that  he  has  failed. 
He  says  in  part  "Whereto  therefore  schulde  the  clergie 
leene  oonly  to  thilke  meene  anentis  lay  men,  whiche  lay 
men  wole  not  admitte.  Bettir  it  were  to  seche  aftir 
another  meene.  Wherefore  y,  unworthiest  and  yongist 
and  louyest  of  prelatis,  aspiying  this  mischeef  ayens 
which  y  have  not  knowe  eny  remedie  yitt  hiderto 
therayens  writen,  and  desiring  forto  wynne  the  lay  chil- 
dren of  the  chirche  into  obedience,  whiche  undir  greet 
perel  of  ther  soulis,  thei  owen  paie  and  holde  to  the 
clergie,  entende  and  purpos  in  this  present  book  forto 
mete  ayens  such  unobediencers  bi  another  way,  and  in 
another  maner,  and  bi  meene  which  the  lay  persoonys 
wole  admitte  and  graunte;  which  meene  is  this,  that  we 
owen  to  bileeve  and  stonde  to  sum  seier  or  techer  which 
may  faile,  while  it  is  not  knowe  that  thilk  seier  or  techer 
theryne  failith."4 

The  very  few  who,  from  Pecock's  day,  have  assisted 
in  placing  this  greatest  of  mid-fifteenth  century  prose 
writers  in  his  merited  niche  of  dignity,  for  various  rea- 
sons have  either  ignored  or  failed  to  grasp  the  most  im- 
portant phase  of  his  character,  namely,  his  zeal  for  ortho- 
doxy. With  these  observations  before  us  we  will  pass 
to  the  review  of  Pecock's  literary  achievements. 

His  greatest  work  was  "The  Repressing  of  over 
miche  wyting  of  the  Clergie"  or  "The  Repressor  of  over 
myche  blamyng  the  Clergie"  or  as  it  is  commonly  known 
The  Repressor.  The  reasons  for  undertaking  the 
work  are  given  in  the  prologue.  For  many  years  accu- 
sations have  been  made  against  the  Church  by  the  lay 
party  (the  Lollards).  The  attack  is  not  merely  upon  a 
group  of  clergy,  but  upon  the  clergy  of  the  whole  world. 
The  critics  have  not  restricted  themselves  to  abuses; 
they  have  attacked  even  the  teachings  and  practices  of 
the  Church.  Moreover  these  "blamers"  can  not 


4.  Morison,  Pecock's  Book  of  Faith,  p.  113,  1908. 


CHURCHMAN  AND  MAN  OF  LETTEES  75 

ushewe,"  "teche"  and  "proue,"  that  these  teachings 
and  practices  are  "defautis  and  synnes,"  but  succeed 
only  in  stirring  up  rancours,  disturbances,  schism  and 
other  evils  amongst  the  people.  Such  faultfinders  should 
recall  the  advice  of  St.  Paul  to  St.  Timothy,  when  he  says, 
"Vndirnyme  thou,  biseche  thou,  and  blame  thou  in  al 
pacience  and  doctrine "  (  ) ;  or  the  words  of 

St.  Luke,  "0  leche,  heale  thi  silf." 

Abuses,  however,  do  exist  amongst  the  clergy,  and  it 
is  not  his  desire  to  condone  such.  His  purpose  is  to  win 
the  lay  party  from  their  policy  of  criticism,  the  source 
of  which  is  ignorance  of  the  teachings  of  the  Church.  To 
this  end  he  intends  to  expound  eleven  articles  and  defend 
them  against  the  attack  of  the  Lollards.  These  eleven 
articles  are:  (1)  the  use  of  images;  (2)  pilgrimages; 
(3)  the  holding  of  landed  possessions  by  the  clergy;  (4) 
the  various  ranks  of  the  hierarchy;  (5)  the  framing  of 
ecclesiastical  laws  and  ordinances  by  papal  and  episcopal 
authority;  (6)  the  institution  of  the  religious;  (7)  the 
invocation  of  saints;  (8)  the  costliness  of  ecclesiastical 
decorations;  (9)  the  ceremonies  of  the  mass  and  the  sac- 
raments, generally;  (10)  the  taking  of  oaths;  (11)  the 
maintaining  of  war  and  capital  punishment  to  be  lawful. 

PARTI 
CHAPTER  I 

The  work  is  divided  into  five  parts.  In  the  first  part 
the  author  refrains  from  attacking  the  eleven  objections 
directly,  but  strikes  at  errors  more  fundamental.  The 
aberrations  of  the  Lollards  are  the  result  of  three  prin- 
cipal erroneous  opinions.  If  these  opinions  are  shown 
to  be  false,  all  their  other  tenets  will  collapse;  "if  it  be 
sufficient!!  proued  that  tho  thre  ben  nought  and  vntrewe 
opiniouns  and  holdingis  bildid  upon  hem  fal  and  lacke 
it  wherebi  thei  mighten  in  eny  colour  or  semyng  be 


76  REGINALD  PECOCK 

merited,  holde,  and  supportid.  "5  The  first  of  these 
errors  is  this.  No  Christian  is  to  hold  an  ordinance  a 
law  of  God  unless  it  is  grounded  in  Scripture.  As  a  re- 
sult, whenever  a  clerk  affirms  any  ordinance  which  is 
beyond  their  knowledge  or  contrary  to  their  liking,  even 
if  it  is  reasonable  and  therefore  in  conformity  with 
"moral  lawe  of  kinde,"  (natural  law)  they  demand: 
"  Where  groundist  thou  it  in  the  Newe  Testament  ?"  or, 
' '  Where  groundist  thou  it  in  Holy  'Scripture  in  such  place 
which  is  not  bi  the  Newe  Testament  reoukid."6 

The  second  of  these  errors  is,  that  every  Christian 
man  or  woman,  truly  meek  and  humble  and  willing  to 
understand  the  Scriptures,  shall  infallibly  come  to  their 
meaning,  even  to  the  understanding  of  the  "Apocalips." 

The  third  opinion  is,  whenever  such  a  Christian  dis- 
covers the  true  sense  of  Scripture  after  the  aforesaid 
manner,  he  must  not  listen  to  any  reasoning  or  arguing 
to  the  contrary  on  the  part  of  a  clerk. 

CHAPTER  II  AND  III 

Thirteen  principal  conclusions  are  set  forth  against 
the  first  error.  Before  undertaking  the  refutation,  Pe- 
cock  feels  that  a  clearer  understanding  of  his  termin- 
ology, and  a  short  discourse  on  certain  of  the  rules  of 
logic,  will  be  of  use  to  the  lay  party.  The  present  errors 
of  the  Lollards  are  due  to  their  lack  of  logic.  If  only 
they  were  better  schooled  in  this  science,  it  would  be  a 
great  safeguard  against  error  and  would  be  a  means  of 
drawing  them  out  of  their  present  errors. 

The  first  of  the  thirteen  conclusions  is  this :  It  is  not 
the  office  of  Holy  Scripture  to  found  any  law  of  God,  to 
the  knowledge  of  which  man  can  attain  by  means  of  his 
natural  reasons — "It  longith  not  to  Holy  Scripture, 
neither  it  is  his  office  into  which  God  hath  him  ordeyned, 
neither  it  is  his  part  forto  ground  eny  gouernaunce  or 

5.  Pec.  Repress.,  Chap.  I. 

6.  Ibid.  Ch.  I. 


CHURCHMAN  AND  MAN  OF  LETTERS  77 

deede  or  seruice  of  God,  or  eny  law  of  God,  or  eny  trouthe 
which  mannis  reasoun  bi  nature  may  fynde,  leerne,  and 
knowe," 

In  proof  of  this  conclusion  he  states  that  whatever 
God  ordains  to  be  a  ground  or  fundament  of  any  truth, 
it  must  so  fully  set  it  forth  that  the  given  truth  can  not 
be  wholly  known  without  this  ground  or  fundament.  But 
Holy  Scripture  alone  does  not  wholly  set  forth  a  truth 
or  ordinance  together  with  all  the  knowledge  necessary 
to  be  had  upon  it,  to  which  man  can  attain  by  the  use  of 
his  reason  alone.  Therefore  no  truth  to  which  man  can 
come  by  reason  alone,  is  founded  in  Holy  Scripture. 

The  first  premise  of  this  argument  must  be  granted, 
says  Pecock.  He  then  sets  forth  his  reasons  for  this. 

The  second  premise  he  undertakes  to  prove  as  fol- 
lows: Whatever  reason  does  as  fully  and  perfectly  as 
Holy  'Scripture,  it  does,  and  Holy  Scripture  alone  does 
not  do  it.  For  in  the  truths  attainable  by  man's  reason 
alone,  whatever  knowledge  and  learning  Holy  Scripture 
sets  forth,  man's  reason  can  and  may  show  the  same 
knowledge  and  learning,  for  one  can  not  find  in  Holy 
'Scripture  any  truth  of  natural  law  which  reason  does  not 
fully  and  equally  well  command  to  be  done. 

Wherefore  it  follows  that  none  of  the  said  natural 
laws  or  ordinances  is  taught  by  Holy  Scripture  alone, 
and  therefore  the  second  premise  must  be  true. 

The  second  of  the  thirteen  conclusions  is,  that  only 
is  the  true  ground  of  anything  upon  which  it  would  rest 
in  the  absence  of  all  other  pretended  grounds.  So  it  is  in 
the  case  of  truths  of  natural  law,  the  knowledge  of  them 
may  be  attained  to  by  the  aid  of  natural  reason  alone, 
without  the  aid  of  Holy  Scripture. 

Without  following  out  the  reasoning  through  this 
syllogism,  the  interesting  matter  to  note  is,  the  truths 
which  Pecock  recites  as  truths  knowable  by  man's  un- 
aided reason.  These  are :  that  man  must  love  God  above 
all  things ;  that  man  must  love  himself  and  his  neighbor  as 


78  REGINALD  PECOCK 

himself  though  not  as  much  as  himself ;  promises  made  to 
God  must  be  fulfilled;  that  he  must  take  care  to  learn 
what  is  pleasing  to  God;  that  a  man  must  be  temperate 
in  eating  and  drinking  and  not  gluttonous ;  that  he  ought 
to  be  meek  towards  other  men  and  not  proud;  that  he 
ought  to  be  mild  in  speech  and  answer,  etc.  Reason  alone, 
he  contends,  proves  all  these  and  many  more.  Pecock 
in  expounding  these  truths  seems  to  have  had  the  failings 
and  shortcomings  of  the  Lollards  in  mind. 

His  viewpoint  is  interesting  in  so  far  as  it  partly 
accounts  for  his  overemphasizing  the  work  of  reason  in 
coming  to  the  knowledge  of  truths  knowable  by  reason 
alone.  Certainly  the  unaided  reason  of  the  average  man 
would  never  come  to  the  knowledge  of  all  the  truths  which 
Pecock  suggests. 

Reason,  he  continues,  also  plays  a  prominent  part  in 
evolving  truths  that  necessarily  follow  from  truths  re- 
vealed or  known  from  reason.  In  certain  cases  there  is 
contained  in  Scripture  comparatively  little  revealed 
about  given  truths.  Nevertheless  there  are  a  great  many 
ordinances  following  from  this  revelation  and  from  rea- 
son which  are  none  the  less  true.  For  example,  there  is 
matrimony.  In  Scripture  there  are  comparatively  few 
places  of  direct  revelation  on  marriage ;  the  total  number 
would  not  be  a  hundreth  part  of  the  teachings  contained 
in  the  book  which  he  has  written  on  matrimony.7 

CHAPTER  IV 

The  third  of  the  thirteen  conclusions  against  the 
first  error:  Before  God  assigned  any  positive  laws  to 
the  Jews,  from  the  fall  of  Adam  to  the  time  of  the  cir- 
cumcision of  Abraham  and  the  positive  precepts  given 
to  Moses,  the  people  lived  and  served  God,  and  were 
bound  by  almost  all  the  moral  ordinances  and  truths  to 


7.  Pecock  is  laying  emphasis  on  the  part  which  reason  plays  in  the 
evolving  of  doctrine.  The  Lollards  denied  this,  going  to  the  other  extreme 
of  private  interpretation  under  individual  inspiration. 


CHURCHMAN  AND  MAN  OF  LETTEES  79 

the  knowledge  of  which  they  attained  by  the  use  of  rea- 
son. These  same  ordinances  of  natural  law  still  bind 
Christians.  Moreover  the  giving  of  the  positive  law 
about  judicial  and  sacramental  ceremonies  to  the  Jews 
did  not  abrogate  the  natural  law.  The  Founder  of  the 
New  Law  while  abrogating  the  judicial  and  sacramental 
ordinances  did  not  revoke  the  other  ordinances  that 
bound  the  Jews,  but  gave  new  positive  laws  concerning 
His  sacraments. 

Pecock  speaks  of  the  Old  Law,  even  the  positive  laws 
given  to  Abraham  and  Moses,  excepting  however  the 
judicial  and  sacramental  ordinances  about  ceremonies,  as 
the  "lawe  of  kinde,"  i.  e.,  natural  law.  The  New  Law 
comprises  this  "lawe  of  kinde"  and  the  positive  ordi- 
nances of  the  New  Law.  Since  this  is  so,  he  argues,  a  very 
great  part  of  the  New  Law  which  is  "lawe  of  kinde"  is 
not  founded  on  Holy  Scripture  of  the  Old  or  the  New 
Testament,  "but  in  the  book  of  lawe  of  kinde  writen  in 
mennis  soulis  with  the  finger  of  God  as  it  was  so  groundid 
and  written  bif ore  the  daies  of  Abraham  and  of  Jewis. '  '5 

Holy  Scripture  has,  however,  a  function  in  these 
truths  of  natural  law  knowable  by  reason  alone.  It  is 
this  and  only  this.  It  recalls  these  truths  and  exhorts, 
bids  and  counsels  men  upon  the  virtues  and  ordinances, 
to  the  end  that  they  make  use  of  them  and  flee  their  con- 
trary vices.  The  said  ordinances,  virtues,  and  truths 
can  no  more  be  said  to  be  grounded  in  Holy  Scripture 
than  can  the  virtues,  ordinances,  and  truths  of  natural 
law  which  a  bishop  happened  to  mention  in  his  epistle  to 
his  diocese,  be  said  to  be  grounded  in  the  epistle.5 

CHAPTER  V  AND  VI 

Fifth  Argument:  Christ,  the  Apostles,  and  Holy 
"Scripture,  in  speaking  of  any  of  the  aforesaid  truths 
which  are  known  by  reason,  spoke  in  such  manner  as 

8.  Pecock,  Represser,  Chap.  IV. 

9.  Represser,  Chap.  IV. 


80  REGINALD  PECOCK 

implies  that  these  truths  were  known  before.  They  did 
not  make  a  new  revelation,  but  exhorted  and  counselled 
about  truths  already  known.  To  say  that  these  ordi- 
nances and  truths  are  founded  on  the  words  of  Christ,  the 
Apostles,  or  Holy  Scripture,  is  to  say  that  the  thing 
founded  was  before  the  thing  on  which  it  was  founded. 
Hence  it  follows  that  these  aforesaid  truths  are  not 
founded  on  Scripture,  the  words  of  Christ,  or  the 
Apostles. 

Sixth  Argument :  From  the  fact  that  Holy  Scripture 
affirms  truths  of  natural  law  to  be  truths,  it  does  not  fol- 
low from  this  that  they  are  founded  on  Holy  Scripture. 
If,  in  reasoning  thus,  you  maintain  that  Scripture  is 
the  foundation  for  such  truths,  you  would  have  to  admit 
that  Scripture  is  the  foundation  for  truths  of  natural 
philosophy.  No  man  will  grant  this,  even  if  Scripture 
does  make  mention  and  affirms  truths  of  natural  philos- 
ophy. These  truths  were  knowable  before  they  received 
an  affirmation  in  the  Scriptures.  Moreover,  the  knowl- 
edge of  them  is  far  more  extensive  than  that  contained 
in  'Scripture.  The  same  argument  can  be  applied  to 
moral  truths  of  the  natural  law. 

Truths  to  which  the  unaided  reason  of  man  can 
attain  are  more  truly  in  man's  soul  than  in  the  book  of 
"parchemyn"  or  "velym"  of  Holy  Scripture.  Should 
there  arise  some  "semyng  disco rde"  between  the  words 
of  Scripture  and  reason,  the  words  so  written  must  be 
expounded  and  interpreted  in  conformity  with  reason, 
and  reason  should  not  be  made  to  conform  to  the 
"semyng  discorde"  in  the  outward  words  of  Scripture. 

The  author  continues  to  end  of  Chapter  VI  multi- 
plying unusual  and  striking  examples  almost  to  tedium. 
He  finally  concludes  that  it  can  not  be  said  that  truths 
of  natural  law  are  founded  in  Holy  Scripture. 


CHURCHMAN  AND  MAN  OF  LETTERS  81 

CHAPTER  VII 

Scripture,  as  before  mentioned,  bears  witness  to  the 
aforesaid  truths.  Profane  writings,  however,  and  Scrip- 
ture have  their  own  separate  and  distinct  spheres.  While 
Scripture  does  indeed  bear  witness  to  truths  of  natural 
law,  profane  works  bear  witness  to  "trouthe  of 
dyuynyte"  (divinity),  but  have  neither  right  nor  power 
to  found  any  Divine  ordinance. 

Again,  the  faculty  of  Canon  Law  and  the  faculty  of 
Divinity  are  two  distinct  faculties  with  their  proper  lim- 
itations, "as  that  Canon  Lawe  groundith  constituciouns 
and  ordinancis  of  general  counseilis  and  of  papis  and 
prouyncial  (provincial)  and  synodal  constituciouns,  as 
hise  propre  to  him,  trouthis  and  conclusiouns ;  and 
dyuynyte,  in  verri  maner  forto  speke  of  diuinite, 
groundith  articles  of  feith,  that  is.  to  seie  trouthis  and 
conclusiouns  reuelid  (revealed)  and  affermed  bi  God  to 
be  trewe,  as  propre  to  him  trouthis  and  conclusiouns,  into 
whos  fynding,  leerning,  and  knowing  mannis  resoun  mai 
not  sufficient!!  with  oute  revelacioun  ascende  arid  come 
to."  Canon  Law  therefore  ought  not  and  may  not 
ground  any  truth  or  conclusion  which  is  proper  to  the 
sphere  of  Divinity;  nor  may  Divinity  ground  any  truth 
proper  to  Canon  Law.  Yet  books  of  Canon  Law  may 
state  many  truths  and  conclusions  strictly  of  Divinity, 
while  books  of  Divinity  may  state  many  truths  of  Canon 
Law. 

The  whole  office  and  work  for  which  God  has  or- 
dained Holy  Scripture  is  to  found  articles  ot  faith,  and 
to  reaffirm  and  bear  witness  to  moral  truths  "of  lawe 
of  kinde  groundid  in  moral  philosophic. " 

Some  of  the  articles  of  faith  are  not  laws.  Of  such 
are  these:  "that  God  made  heuen  and  erthe  in  the 
bigynnyng  of  tyme;  and  that  Adam  was  the  firste  man 
and  Eue  was  the  first  womman;  and  that  Moises  ladde 
the  peple  of  Israel  out  of  Egipt ;  and  that  Zacharie  was 


82  REGINALD  PECOCK 

fadir  and  Elizabeth  was  modir  of  Johun  Baptist;  and 
that  Crist  f  astid  XL  daies ;  and  so  forth  of  many  like. ' ' 

Some  are  articles  of  faith  which  are  laws,  "as  that 
ech  man  ought  to  be  baptisid  in  water,  if  he  may  come 
therto;  and  that  ech  man  ought  to  be  hosilid  (be  given 
the  Eucharist)  if  he  may  come  ther  to." 

In  proof  of  the  conclusion  that  the  work  of  Holy 
Scripture  is  to  found  articles  of  faith,  he  asserts  that 
since  the  truths  of  natural  law  are  attainable  by  reason, 
truths  which  are  above  man's  reason  must  come  by  means 
of  revelation  which  is  contained  in  Scripture.  These 
truths  above  man's  reason  and  contained  in  revelation 
are  the  truths  of  articles  of  faith,  and  it  is  the  special 
work  of  Scripture  to  found  such  truths. 

Pecock  concludes  this  chapter  with  an  interesting 
remark  about  the  reading  of  Scripture.  He  does  not 
object  to  the  laymen  reading  and  studying  the  Bible,  pro- 
vided they  are  under  the  direction  of  wise  and  learned 
clerks,  and  with  the  license  of  their  bishop.  What  he 
does  object  to,  and  this  he  has  attempted  to  prove  to  be 
a  false  principle,  is  that  laymen  take  the  Scripture  for 
their  sole  guide,  and  "bi  her  inreding  in  the  Bible"  come 
to  more  knowledge  than  all  the  rest  of  men  on  earth,  lay 
and  cleric,  together. 

CHAPTER  VIII 

Other  conclusions  against  the  first  error  are  set 
forth.  A  great  deal  of  what  has  been  already  stated  is 
repeated.  The  point  of  interest  is  his  expansion  on  the 
question  of  truths  which  are  articles  of  faith.  Man's 
unaided  reason  can  not  come  to  the  knowledge  of  truth 
which  is  an  article  of  faith  without  the  assistance  of 
revelation,  which  is  contained  in  Holy  Scripture.  An 
article  of  faith  can  not  be  founded  on  reason  alone.  ' '  But 
so  it  is  that  noon  article  of  f  eith  mai  be  groundid  in  doom 
of  resoun  sufficientli;  neither  into  his  finding,  leerning, 


CHURCHMAN  AND  MAN  OF  LETTEES  83 

and  knowing  mannis  resoun  bi  itsilf  and  bi  natural  help 
may  rise  and  suffice,  withoute  there  to  maad  revelacioun 
or  affirmyng  fro  God. ' ' 

He  has  developed  this  idea  at  greater  length  in  the 
following  works,  "Forwhi  thanne  feith  were  no  feith,  as 
it  is  taught  in  'The  folwer  to  the  donet'  and  to  the  book 
of  feith  and  of  sacramentis  in  Latyn. '  Wherefore  moral 
lawe  of  kinde  which  is  not  ellis  than  moral  philosophic 
writen  depe  in  mannis  soule,  there  ligging  with  the  prent 
(imprint)  and  the  ymage  of  God,  mai  not  grounde  eny 
article  or  treuthe  or  conclusioun  of  feith,  but  into  the 
grounding  of  feith  serueth  Holi  Scripture." 

CHAPTER  IX  AND  X 

The  argument  against  the  first  error  is  continued 
throughout  Chapter  IX  and  concluded  in  Chapter  X. 

No  man  by  the  aid  of  Scripture  alone  can  come  to 
the  knowledge  of  all  those  truths  which  all  Christians 
are  bound  to  know.  It  is  difficult  for  all  men,  but  espec- 
ially for  the  untrained  mind.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
man  who  is  trained  in  moral  philosophy  will  be  greatly 
assisted  in  coming  to  the  proper  knowledge  of  God's 
Law,  "no  man  mai  leerne  and  kunne  the  hool  lawe  of 
God  to  which  Crist  en  men  ben  bounde,  but  if  he  can 
(know)  of  moral  philosophic;  and  the  more  that  he  can 
in  moral  philosophic  bi  so  miche  the  more  he  can  of 
Goddis  lawe  and  seruice." 

Where  there  is  question  of  truths  to  which  the 
natural  reason  of  man  can  not  attain,  that  is,  super- 
natural truths  knowable  only  by  supernatural  revelation, 
there  is  no  argument.  However,  even  the  truths  to  which 
man's  reason  can  come  by  its  own  unaided  power,  cannot 
be  perfectly,  surely  and  sufficiently  understood  in  the 
Scripture,  by  private  interpretation.  Certainly  a  knowl- 
edge of  moral  philosophy  would  greatly  assist  in  this. 
"No  man  schal  perfitli,  sureli,  and  sufficientli  vndir- 


84  REGINALD  PECOCK 

stonde  Holi  Scripture  in  alle  the  placis  where  yn  he 
rehercith  moral  vertues  not  being  posityf  lawe  of  feith, 
but  being  such  as  mannys  resoun  may  fynde,  leerne, 
and  knowe,  but  if  he  be  bifore  weel  and  perfitli,  suerli, 
and  sufficiently  leerned  in  moral  philosophic,  and  more 
perfitli,  suerli,  and  sufficiently  he  is  leerned  in  moral 
philosophic  the  more  able  as  bi  that  he  schal  be  forto 
perfitli,  suerli  and  sufficientli  vndirstonde  Holi  Scripture 
in  alle  tho  placis  wheryn  he  spekith  of  eny  moral  lawe  of 
God  being  not  posityf  lawe  of  faith. " 

Laymen  not  well  learned  in  moral  philosophy  should 
therefore  esteem  the  clergy  who  are  well  trained  in  this 
science.  The  clergy  should  assist  the  laymen  in  the  right 
understanding  of  Holy  Scripture,  in  those  places  where 
the  before  spoken  conclusions  and  truths  of  moral  philos- 
ophy are  mentioned.  The  laymen  without  the  assis- 
tance of  the  clergy  shall  not  easily  and  lightly  understand 
the  proper  meaning  of  Holy  Scripture  in  the  aforesaid 
matters. 

In  concluding  his  final  argument  against  the  first 
error  of  the  Lollards,  he  asks  the  question :  If  a  man  is 
afraid  of  trespassing  against  God  if  he  undervalues  the 
Holy  Scripture,  why  is  he  not  afraid  lest  he  undervalue 
the  "inward  Scripture "  which  is  written  by  God  in  man's 
heart?  So  firmly  .convinced  is  he  of  the-  truth  of  his 
thirteen  conclusions  against  the  first  error,  that  he  is 
willing  to  wager  his  arm  to  be  smitten  off  in  their  defense. 

Throughout  the  various  arguments  it  is  to  be  ob- 
served, and  this  is  very  striking,  that  the  author  has  an 
exception  and  intimate  grasp  of  the  viewpoint  and  diffi- 
culties of  his  opponents.  Not  once  in  the  whole  discourse 
does  he  lose  sight  of  his  audience.  His  arguments  are 
for  them.  This  undoubtedly  accounts  for  his  overempha- 
sizing the  role  of  reason  and  moral  philosophy  in  the 
matter  of  coming  to  the  knowledge  of  religious  truth. 
The  Lollards,  .it  must  be  remembered,  went  to  the  other 


CHUKCHMAN  AND  MAN  OF  LETTEKS  85 

extreme.     They  minimized  the  place  of  reason  and  sus- 
pected and  scoffed  at  moral  philosophy. 

.  CHAPTER  XI  TO  XIII 

In  these  chapters  the  author  takes  up  and  refutes 
certain  quotations  which  the  Lollards  were  accustomed 
to  advance  in  support  of  their  position.  The  first  of 
these  texts  is  1  Cor.  xiiii  e  in  the  eende  thus,  i.  e.  (1  Cor. 
XIV  38),  "Sotheli  if  eny  man  unknowith,  he  schal  be 
unknowun."  The  Lollards  interpret  this  text  to  mean 
that  if  any  man  does  not  literally  know  the  Scripture  as 
it  is  in  the  text,  "namelich  the  writing  of  the  Newe  Tes- 
tament, "  he  shall  be  unknown  to  God.  They  busy 
themselves  about  learning  the  text  "as  it  is  writun  word 
bi  word,"  and  call  themselves  "knowun  men."  The 
answer  to  this  objection  is,  that  the  words  of  'St.  Paul 
could  not  mean  this  since  at  this  time  the  New  Testament 
had  not  been  written,  neither  the  second  epistle  to  the 
Corinthians  nor  the  Apocalypse. 

The  second  text  is  "ii.  Cor.  iiiie  e  in  the  bigynnyng, 
where  Paul  seith  thus:  That  and  if  oure  Euanglie  is 
couered,  it  is  couered  to  hem  whiche  spillen;  in  which  e 
God  of  this  world  hath  blinded  the  myndis  or  wittis  of 
unfeithful  men,  that  the  lighting  or  cleering  of  the 
Euanglie  of  the  glprie  of  Crist,  which  is  the  ymage  of 
God,  schine  not."  This  the  Lollards  take  to  mean  that 
whoever  is  a,  person  of  salvation  shall  soon  understand 
the  true  meaning  of  Holy  Scripture,  even  of  the  Apoc- 
alypse. Moreover,  the  true  meaning  of  Scripture  shall 
be  hid  for  none  but  those  who  shall  perish  and  be  lost. 
The  Lollards  or  "knowen  men"  are  the  children  of  sal- 
vation, all  other  men  being  erring  sheep  and  in  danger 
of  perishing.  To  the  latter  the  Gospel  is  covered,  to  the 
former  it  is  known,  and  this,  as  Pecock  says,  in  spite  of 
the  fact  that  both  the  natural  law  and  the  law  of  faith  is 
known  Icrs  to  them  than  to  those  whom  they  condemn. 


86  REGINALD  PECOCK 

As  to  the  text  iie  Cor.  iiiie  e,  the  "Euangelie"  was 
not  the  written  text,  since  the  written  text  did  not  exist. 
Before  a  word  of  the  New  Testament  had  been  written 
Christ  commissioned  the  Apostles,  "Go  ye,  and  preche 
ye  the  Euanglie  to  ech  creature. "  Certainly  the  commis- 
sion was  not  to  preach  a  Gospel  which  did  not  exist,  but 
a  Gospel  which  they  then  knew.  It  follows  from  this 
that  the  Gospel  which  all  men  were  afterwards  to  receive 
unto  their  salvation  was,  ere  a  word  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment was  written.  The  Apostles  preached  the  Gospel 
soon  after  Pentecost,  "whanne  thei  hadden  receyned  the 
Holy  Goost  and  kunnyng  of  langage."  This  they  con- 
tinued to  do  for  many  years  before  they  wrote. 

The  author  concludes  the  first  part  of  his  work,  and 
the  arguments  against  the  first  of  the  three  principal 
errors,  with  a  discourse  upon  the  sweetness  and  true 
dignity  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  the  necessity  of 
keeping  in  mind  the  distinct  spheres  of  Scripture  and 
moral  philosophy.  He  also  dwells  upon  the  importance 
to  be  attached  to  the  writings  of  the  Fathers  to  which 
the  Lollards  make  an  insincere  appeal.  Some  of  them 
might  make  an  appeal  to  certain  passages  from  the  writ- 
ings of  the  Fathers,  in  support  of  their  opinions.  How- 
ever, he  is  beginning  to  compose  in  Latin  a  book,  to  which 
he  refers  them,  entitled,  The  Just  Apprising  of 
Doctoris.  Those  interested  in  this  subject  will  find 
there  a  lengthy  treatment  of  the  matter.  However,  he 
feels  that  Patristic  authority  would  have  weight  with 
these  people  only  in  so  far  as  they  might  see  in  it  an 
effective  argument  against  his  views. 

CHAPTEK  XIV  TO  XX 

There  are  two  objections  which  his  opponents  might 
bring  against  him.  The  first  is  that  man's  reason  is  fal- 
lible and  often  fails  in  its  judgments,  as  experience  shows. 
It  is  not  in  keeping  with  the  wisdom  of  God  that  man  in 
his  service  to  Him  should  lean  upon  a  thing  so  frail.  In 


CHURCHMAN  AND  MAN  OF  LETTERS  87 

answer  to  this  objection  lie  says,  it  is  indeed  most  profit- 
able to  man  in  matters  of  sights  really  to  see  the  object 
which  he  gazes  upon,  but  what  other  power  has  God  given 
to  man  to  see  than  his  eyesight;  and  what  eyesight  is 
there  that  will  not  fail  at  sometime!  The  same  may  be 
said  for  hearing,  or  for  walking,  all  of  which  powers  will 
at  some  time  fail.  In  like  manner  reason,  though  it  is 
very  desirable  that  it  should  not,  will  at  some  time  fail. 
But  God  has  given  to  man  no  other  power  by  which  he  can 
know  these  truths  (truths  other  than  supernatural)  and 
this  power  is  one  that  may  fail.  If,  however,  in  the  pur- 
suit of  such  truths  we  exercise  our  powers  to  the  best  of 
our  ability,  God  will  demand  no  more. 

The  second  objection:  Holy  Scripture  is  a  sacred 
and  worthy  thing  since  by  it  and  from  it  the  Christian 
Church  of  God  takes  its  faith.  Therefore  it  does  not 
seem  that  God  would  make  Scripture  dependent  upon 
reason  for  its  proper  understanding  and  interpretation, 
since  reason  is  a  fallible  instrument  and  Scripture  is  a 
worthier.  This  objection  he  answers  in  Chapter  XV. 
In  the  meantime,  in  Chapter  XIV,  he  gives  further  rea- 
sons in  answer  to  the  first  objection.  When  he  says  that 
God  has  ordained  reason  to  be  our  guide  in  these  matters, 
he  does  not  mean  the  power  of  reason  simply,  but  rather 
a  formal  complete  argument  called  a  syllogism,  both 
premises  of  which  are  known  to  be  surely  or  likely  to 
be  true.  The  conclusion  of  such  a  syllogism  is  the 
infallible  guide.  If  the  premises  are  surely  known  the 
conclusion  is  true  without  a  doubt.  Of  such  are  funda- 
mental truths.  If  the  premises  are  to  be  considered 
likely  true,  the  conclusion  is  to  be  held  as  true  until  it 
can  be  proven  to  the  contrary. 

As  to  the  second  objection,  from  considerations 
already  pointed  out  it  is  clear  that  it  would  not  be 
unbecoming  in  God  to  ordain  the  human  reason  and  judg- 
ment to  be  "reulis  to  Holi  Scripture,"  in  all  the  truths 
therein  set  forth.  It  is  alleged  that  Holy  Scripture  was 


88  EEGINALD  PECOCK 

worthier  than  "doom  of  reason. "  But  what  is  Holy 
Scripture?  It  might  be  taken  to  mean  the  letters  of 
various  shapes  and  figures  written  on  parchment  or 
vellum.  In  this  sense  it  is  not  holier  or  better  than  any 
other  writing,  "which  hath  like  good  ink  and  is  like  craf- 
tily figured."  In  another  sense  it  may  be  understood  as 
' '  the  kunnyng  wherebi  the  thing  is  kunne  which  is  signi- 
fied and  bitokened  by  the  now  seid  outward  Holy  Writ, ' ' 
or  it  may  be  taken  for  the  outward  writing  coupled  with 
the  knowledge  of  the  truths  signified  thereby.  So  also 
"doom  of  reason"  may  be  taken  in  two  senses.  In  one 
sense  it  is  the  act  of  reasoning  by  making  syllogisms; 
in  another  sense  it  is  the  cognizance  of  the  conclusion 
arrived  at  by  such  syllogisms.  Now,  if  in  the  second 
objection  Holy  Scripture  be  understood  in  the  second 
sense,  and  doom  of  reason  in  the  second  sense,  surely 
Holy  Scripture,  where  it  rehearses  and  teaches  "moral 
law  of  kinde"  (natural  law),  is  less  worthy  than  "moral 
law  of  kinde"  itself  and  therefore  less  worthy  than 
"doom  of  reason"  taken  in  the  second  sense,  since  here 
it  only  borrows  the  truths  which  it  sets  forth  from  "moral 
law  of  kinde."  Certainly  if  Holy  Writ  be  worthier  in 
any  of  its  truths  than  ' '  doom  of  reason, "  it  is  in  matters 
of  faith  which  are  not  laws  to  man,  and  which  reason 
can  not  ground.  Such  are  the  doctrines  of  the  Trinity, 
the  Incarnation,  and  so  forth.  And  yet  whether  Scrip- 
ture be  more  profitable  to  man  than  doom  of  reason  in 
the  second  sense,  to  enable  him  to  serve  God  and  deserve 
meed  in  heaven,  the  author  will  not  discuss  in  his  book, 
but  may  perhaps  in  other  writings,  "to  hearers  of  higher 
understanding. "  He  will  only  refer  to  proofs  already 
given  that  all  the  faith,  grounded  on  Scripture,  which  is 
a  positive  law  to  man  is  not  so  valuable  or  necessary  for 
him  "as  is  the  said  doom  of  reason,  being  ('moral  law 
of  kind')." 

The  author  seems  to  feel,  for  an  instant,  that  in  his 
argument,  he  is  soaring  above  the  heads  of  his  audience. 


CHUECHMAN  AND  MAN  OP  LETTEES  89 

However,  if  it  is  true  that  he  has  written  or  said  more 
"than  wole  anoon  accorde  with  the  capacite  of  the  Bible 
men"  he  would  much  rather  do  so  than  either  say  or 
write  less,  thus  giving  them  the  impression  that  their 
two  objections  could  not  be  answered.  Men  so  impressed 
might  be  led  to  believe  that  by  poring  over  the  Bible 
alone  they  would  be  able  to  solve  all  difficulties  without 
taking  counsel  of  substantial  clerks,  "weel  leerned  in 
logic  and  in  moral  philosophic."  If  there  were  not  such 
men  to  expound  Scripture,  or  the  laity  would  not  attend 
to  their  teaching,  but  trust  only  to  their  own  wits  and 
texts  of  the  Bible  before  them,  it  would  give  rise  to  such 
various  opinions,  "that  al  the  world  schulde  be  cumbrid 
therewith,  and  men  schulden  accorde  to  gidere  in  keping 
her  service  to  God  as  doggis  doon  in  a  market  whanne 
ech  of  hem  terith  otheris  coot. ' '  One  man  would  under- 
stand a  text  one  way,  another  in  another  way,  and  a 
third  in  a  third  way.  Wherever  Scripture  speaks  of  any 
point  of  "moral  law  of  kind,"  the  language  is  such  as 
requires  "a  redressing  of  it  into  accordance  with  lawe 
of  kinde  and  with  doom  of  reason."  Without  a  judge  to 
settle  disputes,  there  would  be  no  end  of  strife.  This 
was  the  very  cause  of  the  ruin  of  "the  worthy  city  and 
university  of  Prague,"  and  of  the  whole  realm  of 
Bohemia.  After  the  most  unhappy  experience  of  dis- 
sensions the  people  were  now  glad  to  return  to  the 
Catholic  faith  and  to  rebuild  what  was  burnt  and  thrown 
down.  How  true  are  the  words  of  our  Lord  when  He 
said,  "that  ech  kingdom  deuidid  in  hem  silf  schal  be 
destruyed."  His  earnest  prayer  is  that  such  a  distur- 
bance may  never  come  to  England,  "God  for  his  merci 
and  pitee  kepe  Ynglond  that  he  come  not  into  lyk 
daunce." 

These  "Bible  men"  had  only  to  observe  the  schisms 
and  dissensions  amongst  themselves  to  see  the  absurdity 
of  their  principles.  They  had  relied  upon  their  own  wit 
in  interpreting  the  'Scripture.  See  the  results.  "And 


90  REGINALD  PECOCK 

therefore  ye  Bible  men,  bi  this  here  now  seid  which  ye 
muste  needis  grannie,  for  experience  which  ye  han  of  the 
disturblaunce  in  Beeme,  and  also  of  the  disturblaunce 
and  dyuerse  feelings  had  among  yon  silf  now  in  Ynglond, 
so  thai  summe  of  yon  ben  clepid  Doctour  mongers,  and 
summe  ben  clepid  Opinionn  holders,  and  snmme  ben  Neu- 
tralis,  that  of  so  presumptuose  a  cisme  abhominacionn  to 
othere  men  and  schame  to  yon  it  is  to  heere. ' ' 

The  matter  of  choosing  a  wise  counsellor  from 
amongst  the  clergy  was  of  the  greatest  importance.  No 
better  advice  in  such  a  matter  could  be  given  than  that 
of  Ecclesiastics,  vjc  "manie  be  to  thee  pesible,  but  of  a 
thousand  oon  be  thi.connseiler."  "And  in  special  be 
waar  that  thou  not  accepte,  chese  and  take  a  clerk  for  to 
be  sufficient  to  thee  into  the  now  seid  pnrposi  bi  this 
aloon,  that  he  mai  were  a  pilioun161  on  his  heed;  neither 
bi  this  that  he  is  a  famose  and  plesaunt  precher  to  the 
people  in  a  pulpit ;  neither  by  this  that  he  is  a  greet  and 
thikke  rateler  out  of  textis  of  Holi  Scripture,  or  of  Doc- 
touris  in  feestis  or  in  othere  companyingis,  fer  certis 
experience  hath  ofte  taught  and  mai  here  teche  surely 
ynough  that  summe  werers  of  piliouns  in  scole  of 
dyuynyte  han  scantli  be  worthi  for  to  be  in  the  same  scole 
a  good  scoler." 

Pecock  feels  that  since  he  is  treating  the  question 
of  preachers  he  must  say  something  about  the  matter  of 
preaching.  The  office  of  preaching  is  to  exhort  and  to 
reiterate  truths,  rather  than  to  expound  and  set  forth 
arguments  in  support  of  truth.  If  preaching  is  wanting 
in  these  qualities,  it  loses  its  essential  characteristic. 
Disputing  and  proving  is  the  special  field  of  teaching, 
which  has  its  proper  setting  in  the  lecture  hall,  whereas 
the  lecture  hall  is  no  place  for  preaching,  which  has  its 
proper  place  in  the  pulpit.  The  great  need  of  the  time 
is  teaching,  which  gives  men  the  grounding  necessary  for 
the  repressing  of  error,  and  the  understanding  of  God's 

10.  A  doctor's  cap. 


CHUKCHMAN  AND  MAN  OF  LETTEKS  91 

law.  Mere  preaching  ability  is  no  panacea  for  the  evils 
that  have  arisen  from  the  need  of  proper  training  in 
disputation.  Some  good  preachers,  amongst  the  lay 
party,  who  have  had  no  further  training  at  school  than 
in  grammar,  can,  by  their  quoting  of  texts  and  reciting 
of  parables,  preach  "ful  gloriously "  for  the  satisfaction 
of  the  people,  leaving  the  impression  that  they  are  men 
of  wisdom,  when  in  reality,  if  they  were  opposed  in  any 
one  of  the  texts  or  parables,  they  could  not  defend  it. 
It  is  to  such  untrained  minds  as  these  that  errors,  dis- 
turbance and  schism  can  be  traced. 

The  author  makes  a  statement  which  is  worthy  of 
notice  in  so  far  as  it  gives  an  insight  into  his  character. 
As  we  have  noted  before,  his  sincerity  and  boldness  of 
speech  made  him  no  respecter  of  persons  when  there  was 
question  of  principle  involved.  In  this  instance  he 
does  not  hesitate  to  >  reprimand  his  sovereign  in  very 
pointed  and  unmistakable  language:  "But  wolde  God 
that  the  King  of  Yngiond  wolde  sette  so  myche  bisynes 
forto  conquere  and  reforme  his  lond  of  Yngiond  fro  this 
seid  wickid  scole,  and  fro  othere  defautis,  as  miche  as  he 
dooth  aboute  the  conquest  of  his  lond  of  Normandi  and 
of  Fraunce,  and  perauenture  he  schulde  thanne  haue  more 
thanke  and  reward  at  his  last  comyng  hoom  to  the  King 
of  blisse,  and  more  noble  flauour  of  digne  fame  among 
a  lie  the  princis  of  the  world  and  the  worthi  peeris  of 
heuen,  than  he  schal  haue  bi  much  of  his  labour  and  cost 
cioon  aboute  worldli  conquest  of  Fraunce. " 

Pecock  now  proceeds  to  the  refutation  of  the  second 
erroneous  opinion  of  the  Lollards.  That  every  humble 
Christian  shall  come  to  the  understanding  of  the  true 
meaning  of  Scripture,  is  a  false  proposition,  as  can  be 
demonstrated  both  from  experience.  He  has  known  certain 
humble  individuals  who  have  come  to  an  opinion  about 
certain  passages  of  Holy  Writ,  but  afterwards,  without 
becoming  more  humble,  have  arrived  at  another  opinion 
about  the  same  things.  Their  own  experience  should  be 


92  REGINALD  PECOCK 

for  them  convincing  evidence  of  the  falsehood  of  the 
proposition.  Moreover,  adherents  of  the  error  often  hold 
divergent  opinions  about  the  same  passage  of  Scripture. 
Moreover  the  matter  of  individual  righteousness  or  sin- 
fulness  does  not  enter  into  the  understanding  of  Scrip- 
ture. Experience  is  against  it,  since  a  bad  clerk  can  arrive 
at  the  meaning  of  a  passage  of  Scripture  as  readily  as  a 
good  clerk;  what  is  more,  both  will  arrive  at  the  same 
meaning.  The  understanding  of  a  passage  of  Scripture 
is  the  work  of  the  intellect  and  "a  badde  man  and  a  ful 
yuel  disposid  man  in  wil  and  in  affect  mai  haue  so  cler 
and  so  well  disposid  witt  and  reson  into  all  thingis  to 
be  founde  bi  witt,  as  hath  a  good  man  well  disposid  in 
manneris  of  his  affect  and  wil."  Therefore,  the  second 
principal  opinion  is  erroneous. 

The  third  principal  error : — The  true  sense  of  Scrip- 
ture being  once  attained  to  by  humble  diligence,  no  hu- 
man arguments  opposing  this  true  sense  should  be  admit- 
ted. Such  an  opinion  is  contrary  to  the  teaching  of  Scrip- 
ture, as  is  seen  from  "1  Petri  iiie  c."  He  goes  on  to 
say  that  without  doubt  man's  intellect  can  not  come  to 
the  knowledge  of  truth  without  argument.  This  applies 
to  truths  which  the  intellect  can  attain  to  by  its  own 
powers,  and  to  truths  of  faith  properly  so  called,  since 
none  of  these  truths  can  be  grasped  unless  by  examination 
of  their  evidence. 

There  is  a  fourth  opinion,  the  adherents  of  which 
maintain  that  if  a  man  keeps  God's  law  he  shall  always 
have  the  proper  understanding  of  Holy  Scripture,  other- 
wise he  will  never  come  to  its  understanding.  This 
opinion  is  also  contrary  to  experience.  Careful  investiga- 
tion has  placed  at  his  disposal  irrefutable  evidence. 
Among  the  holders  of  this  opinion  he  has  found  even 
prominent  teachers  and  persons  in  authority  among  this 
sect  who  are  living  impure  and  adulterous  lives,  and  some 
indeed  are  thieves.  They  dare  not  deny  these  accusations, 
for  he  is  prepared  to  prove  any  of  his  statements.  All 


CHUKCHMAN  AND  MAN  OF  LETTEBS  93 

men  know,  and  these  sinners  themselves  know,  that  such 
sins  are  serious  offenses  against  the  law  of  God,  and  still 
they  imagine  that  they  have  the  true  understanding  of 
Holy  Scripture  and  no  man  has  a  better  or  truer  under- 
standing of  it  than  they. 

These  same  men  accuse  prelates  of  the  Church  of 
being  evil-doers  against  God's  law.  He  admits  that  the 
prelates,  being  men  and  not  angels,  are  not  without  faults, 
still  their  faults  have  been  exaggerated  and  certain  faults 
have  been  attributed  to  them  of  which  they  are  not  guilty. 
From  this  and  the  context  which  follows  it  is  evident 
that  the  accusations  made  against  the  prelates  were  of 
faults  in  administering  their  dioceses.  Pecock  advises 
his  readers  not  to  be  too  hasty  in  such  judgments,  since 
they  have  no  idea  of  the  grave  hardships  a  bishop  experi- 
ences in  trying  to  govern  his  diocese.  Acts  should  be 
judged  by  their  motives,  not  by  the  mere  facts.  He 
himself  has  heard  of  censures  passed  upon  him  for  the 
government  of  his  diocese,  which  he  is  sure  the  censors 
themselves  would  have  revoked  if  they  had  known  all  the 
circumstances. 

He  concludes  Part  1  of  his  work  with  the  statement 
that  it  is  beyond  his  comprehension  how  a  good  and 
thoughtful  man  could  be  a  Lollard.  He  understands, 
however,  that  many  were  beguiled  by  shallow  reasoning 
and  thus  led  astray  into  dangerous  paths. 

In  this  first  part  of  Pecock 's  principal  work,  we  have 
attempted  to  give  a  summary  of  his  principal  doctrines ; 
and  those  especially  important,  since  it  was  in  the  treat- 
ment of  this  part  that  he  overreached  himself,  for  rea- 
sons already  given,  and  became  heretical.  It  may  seem 
to  some  rather  detailed  and  perhaps  fatiguing,  but  when 
one  considers  the  magnitude  of  the  work  itself  this 
treatment  will  appear  quite  summary.  As  we  have 
already  stated,  it  is  not  our  purpose  to  enter  the  contro- 
versy 'as  to  Pecock 's  orthodoxy  or  heterodoxy.  The 
doctrines  involved  in  controversy  of  this  sort  are  such, 


94  REGINALD  PECOCK 

and  the  history  of  their  development  is  so  important, 
that  the  maximum  space  possible  to  allot  for  their  treat- 
ment would  be  altogether  inadequate.  A  volume  or  several 
volumes  of  generous  proportions  would  not  be  too  exten- 
sive for  an  exhaustive  treatment  of  the  matter. 

The  aim  of  this  part  of  the  dissertation  is  primarily 
literary.  This  we  have  kept  before  us  in  selecting  pas- 
sages, and  in  choosing  arguments ;  we  wished  to  empha- 
size something  of  the  mentality  of  the  author,  his  logic, 
his  power  of  expression,  and  something  of  his  own  per- 
sonality as  reflected  in  his  writings. 

The  remaining  four  parts  of  the  work  will  be  dis- 
missed very  summarily.  There  will  be  no  particular 
effort  made  to  follow  the  logical  argument.  Our  purpose 
will  be  to  choose  certain  arguments  and  passages  that 
seem  to  cast  further  light  upon  what  has  been  said. 

PART  II 

The  author's  purpose  in  the  next  four  parts  of  the 
Represser  is  to  offer  a  defense  of  the  eleven  Church 
ordinances  against  the  erroneous  attack  of  the  Lollards. 
But  before  taking  up  the  defense  proper,  he  lays  down 
in  the  systematic  fashion  of  the  schoolmen  certain  sup- 
positions or  rules  which  are  apparent  to  everyone.  These 
shall  assist  in  proving  and  justifying  each  of  the  eleven 
ordinances. 

These  suppositions  or  rules  are: 

(1)  An  ordinance  expressly  given  by  an  authority, 
whether  this  authority  be  God,  man,  angel,  or  Scripture, 
implies  the  carrying  out  of  everything  logically  involved 
in  it.    It  may  be  fulfilled  in  different  ways,  but  that  way 
is  best,  which  most  effectively  attains  the  end  sought. 

(2)  An  ordinance  may  be  enjoined  not  expressly  in 
words,  but  in  various  ways  that  point  unmistakably  to 
the  will  of  the  authority. 


CHUECHMAN  AND  MAN  OF  LETTEES  95 

(3)  In  both  of  these  aforesaid  rules,  wherever  the 
authority  points  to  the  observance  of  an  ordinance,  it 
thereby  enjoins  and  sanctions  all  means  necessary  to  the 
fulfillment  of  the  ordinance,  for  example:  he,  Pecock, 
orders  his  servant  to  attend  the  sermon  at  Paul's  Cross, 
which  implies  of  course  that  he  ordered  or  suggested  to 
the  servant  that  he  should  learn  something  from  that 
sermon ;  it  also  implied  that  he  ordered  or  suggested  that 
he  go  out  the  gate,  and  take  one  of  several  ways  to 
Paul's  Cross,  avoiding,  however,  any  particular  way, 
that  may  interfere  with  the  fulfillment  of  the  command. 

From  this,  four  conclusions  follow : 

(a)  Holy  Scripture  teaches  us:  to  love  God  with  all 
our  hearts ;  to  love  all  that  God  loves ;  and  to  despise  all 
that  He  does  not  love.    All  of  His  law  and  service  follow 
from  these  principles,  such  as:  reading  Holy  Scripture, 
listening    to    sermons,    meditating   upon    pictures    and 
images,  going  on  pilgrimages  to  places  where  holy  men 
dwell  or  have  dwelt,  or  where  their  relics  still  remain." 
Holy  Scripture  sanctions  all  these  methods. 

(b)  Each  of  the  eleven  ordinances  is  virtually  or 
implicitly  commanded  or  recommended  by  Holy  Scrip- 
ture. 

(c)  Each  is  thus  founded  on  'Scripture. 

(d)  If   the  bidding,   counselling,   or   witnessing   of 
Holy  Scripture  to  a  truth  of  " moral  law  of  kind"  were 
a   grounding   in    Scripture   in    the    sense   indicated    in 
previous  passages  of  his  treatise,  undoubtedly  the  whole 
of  the  eleven  ordinances  which  he  proposes  to  vindicate 
were  really  grounded  in  Holy  Scripture  properly  under- 
stood. 

This  second  part  of  the  Eepressor  is  devoted  to  the 
vindication  of  the  use  of  images  and  the  going  on  pil- 
grimages. 

The  use  of  images  in  Churches  as  signs  to  commem- 
orate and  recall  are  not  reproved  either  by  Scripture  or 


96  REGINALD  PECOCK 

"by   long   vse    of    Chirchis    bileeuyng   neither    bi    eny 
myraculose  thereto  of  God  wirching  (working).7' 

Amongst  his  arguments  are  these:  Solomon  made 
various  images  for  his  temple  and  was  commended  for 
it  by  God;  to  the  people  of  Israel  it  was  permitted  to 
raise  up  a  brazen  serpent,  why  wonder  that  it  is  lawful 
to  raise  up  an  image  of  Christ  crucified ;  if  it  is  lawful 
to  have  an  image  of  an  earthly  king,  why  not  have  an 
image  of  the  King  in  Heaven;  Christ  permitted  the  use 
of  the  coin  upon  which  there  was  an  image  of  an  earthly 
king. 

He  continues  that  it  is  very  explicitly  stated  in  the 
Scriptures  that  an  image  raised  up  as  a  false  God  is 
unlawful,  but  it  is  not  unlawful  when  not  set  up  as  a 
false  God. 

In  truth  erroneous  opinions  regarding  the  use  of 
images  may  be  held,  but  it  does  not  follow  from  this  that 
images  should  be  forbidden.  The  saints,  like  St.  Bernard, 
St.  Nicholas,  and  St.  Martin,  worked  miracles.  Simple 
minded  people  of  their  day  may  have  thought  that  these 
wonders  were  the  result  of  the  saints'  own  power,  but 
it  would  not  follow  that  these  saints  should  be  hindered 
or  put  to  death  on  account  of  this.  Moreover,  as  regards 
some  images,  it  is  not  a  false  and  foolish  opinion  to  hold 
that  they  have  worked  miracles,  since  experience  has 
undoubtedly  shown  it  to  be  so. 

Again,  it  is  not  unlawful  to  have  images  as  reminding 
signs,  for  "Whanne  euere  Holy  Scripture  biddith,  coun- 
seilith,  or  allowith  eny  eende,  he  ther  yn  and  ther  bi 
biddith,  counseilith,  or  allowith,  or  approueth  ech  meene 
profitable  into  the  same  eende. ' '  Christ  ordained  in  the 
New  Law  His  Sacraments,  sensible  and  reminding  signs 
of  His  life,  passion,  a,nd  death,  as  is  seen  and  proved  in 
The  Book  of  Sacramentis,  or  in  The  bookis  of  Baptim 
and  of  Eukarist.  Thus  Holy  Scripture  gives  testimony 


CHUKCHMAN  AND  MAST  OF  LETTEKS  97 

that  the  use  of  sensible,  reminding  signs,  is  lawful,  ex- 
pedient, and  profitable,  otherwise  the  Sacraments  of 
Christ  would  be  unlawful,  inexpedient,  and  unprofitable. 

PART  III 

A  justification  of  the  endowments  of  the  clergy  and 
their  right  to  possess  property : 

Arguments  from  Scripture,  both  the  Old  and  New 
Testament,  are  expounded  by  the  author,  showing  that 
the  clergy  may  lawfully  possess  landed  property.  Argu- 
ments to  the  contrary  are  refuted.  He  then  advanced  five 
arguments  which  some  of  the  laity  used  against  clerical 
endowments.  These  are:  simony  and  avarice  are  their 
natural  outcome.  What  is  more  Christ  did  not  appoint 
them.  Again,  it  has  been  the  experience  of  ecclesiastical 
history  that  as  the  clergy  became  more  endowed  with 
this  world's  goods,  they  gretv  worldlier  and  more  cor- 
rupt. An  angel  exclaimed  that  poison  was  infused  into 
the  Church  the  day  that  Constantine  made  his  donation 
to  the  Church  of  Rome.  The  power  over  life  and  death 
accruing  to  bishops  and  abbots  in  virtue  of  ecclesiastical 
endowments,  is  most  objectionable  and  cruel. 

Each  argument  is  given  separate  consideration  and 
refuted.  To  the  argument  about  the  donation  of  Con- 
stantine Pecock  replies  that  from  various  historical  evi- 
dence this  gift  of  Constantine  has  been  proven  to  be 
fabulous. 

PART  IV 

A  vindication  of  the  various  ranks  and  degrees 
amongst  the  clergy;  also  of  the  lawfulness  of  statutes  and 
1  canons  made  by  ecclesiastical  authorities. 

It  is  seen  from  Scripture,  both  Testaments  of  which 
allowed  this  variety  of  ranks  and  degrees.  In  the  Old 
Testament  God  ordained  that  one  bishop  was  to  be  "in 
rule  and  jurisdiction"  over  all  the  clergy,  just  as  the 
Pope  is  now  one  person  governing  the  clergy  in  God's 


98  REGINALD  PECOCK 

Church.  Certainly  Scripture  did  not  forbid  this  variety 
of  ranks,  but  on  the  contrary  sanctions  it. 

Then  follows  proof  from  the  New  Testament  that 
Peter  was  made  "heed"  of  the  Church  by  Christ.  He 
refers  the  reader  to  "  Johun  first  chapiter "  and  to  ie  Cor. 
ix  e  c ;  ie  Cor.  XV  e  4c ;  Galat  i j  e  c. 

The  variety  of  degrees  in  the  hierarchy  is  lawful  in 
the  most  proper  manner  of  speaking  of  lawfulness.  That 
it  is  true  is  proven  thus.  Whatever  governance  Holy 
•Scripture  and  clearly  disposed  reason  allow  and  approve, 
is  lawful  in  the  most  proper  manner  of  speech  in  which 
one  can  speak  of  lawfulness.  But  Holy  Scripture  and 
reason  allow  and  approve  of  these  various  degrees  in 
the  hierarchy. 

The  Lollards  unjustly  and  falsely  accuse,  that  the 
Pope  and  lesser  Bishops  impose  ecclesiastical  laws  over 
and  above  Divine  law,  and  contrary  to  it.  In  answering 
this  false  accusation  he  says:  "It  is  leeful  to  princis 
with  hir  comsunalte  forto  make  politik  and  cyuyle  lawis 
and  ordinauncis  for  the  better  reule  of  the  peple  in  tem- 
poral and  cyuyl  gouernauncis,  longing  into  worldli  pees 
and  prosperite,  and  worldi  welthe,  to  be  the  better  therbi 
kept  and  contynued."  Certainly  St.  Paul  in  his  letter  to 
Timothy,  "ie  Thim.  1  e  c,"  has  made  it  very  clear  that 
the  laws  made  by  temporal  rulers  must  be  respected  and 
obeyed.  He  even  cautions  the  bondman  to  be  obedient  to 
his  master.  In  like  manner,  the  spiritual  rulers  must  be 
obeyed  in  those  laws  and  ordinances  imposed  for  the 
spiritual  welfare  of  men.  What  is  more,  these  spiritual 
rulers  can  have  recourse  to  such  sanctions  as  are  neces- 
sary for  the  attainment  of  this  end. 

He  then  gives  certain  arguments  in  support  of  cer- 
tain ecclesiastical  laws  made  by  spiritual  authority.  If 
Scripture  does  not  forbid,  and  reason  does  not  forbid, 
then  such  ordinances  are  lawful.  In  the  case  of  ecclesias- 
tical laws  neither  of  these  forbids. 


CHUKCHMAN  AND  MAN  OF  LETTERS  99 

Again :  Whatever  ordinances  were  introduced  into 
the  Church  by  the  Apostles  or  by  their  consent,  are  law- 
ful, and  worthy  to  be  had  and  used.  But  the  fourth,  fifth, 
and  sixth  principal  governances,  treated  in  this  work, 
namely,  the  distinction  in  the  ranks  of  the  hierarchy,  the 
framing  of  ecclesiastical  laws  and  ordinances  by  papal 
and  episcopal  authority,  the  institution  of  the  religious, 
were  introduced  into  the  Church  with  consent  or  at  least 
not  against  the  wishes  of  the  Apostles.  This  premise  is 
proved  from  the  writings  of  St.  Dionysius  the  Aereo- 
pagite  in  his  The  Chirchis  lerarchie,  where  in  Chap- 
ter VI  he  says,  "that  the  grete  dukis  of  the  Chirche, 
which  lyueden  with  the  Apostolis,  maden  and  ordeynedan, 
the  religioun  of  monkehode  to  be  had  and  vsid  in  the 
Chirche. J711  Also  in  the  same  book  mention  is  made  of 
positive  laws  made  by  the  "seid  dukis  and  reulers  of  the 
Chirche, "  who  lived  in  the  time  of  the  Apostles.  Of  such 
were  the  regulations  about  the  administering  of  bap- 
tism,1^ and,  "how  the  sacrament  of  the  auter  schulde  be 
mad,  and  how  the  masse  schal  be  seid,  and  how  the 
mynystris  schulen  be  araied,  and  what  bfficis  thei  schulen 
do13  .  .  .  what  and  how  manie  thingis  schulen  be 
doon  aboute  a  man  whanne  he  schal  be  mad  bischop,i4 
what  and  how  manie  thingis  schulen  be  doon  about  a 
man  whanne  he  schal  be  mad  preest15  .  .  .  what 
and  how  manie  thingis  schulen  be  doon  aboute  a  man  if 
he  be  mad  a  monk16  .  .  .  and  to  a  bischop  ben  re- 
served these  powers,  that  is  to  seie,  for  to  halewe  creme 
(chrism),  for  to  halewe  chirchis  and  auteris  and  for  to 
give  orderis  of  preesthode  and  of  dekenhode.  "17 

Likewise  Holy  Scripture  demonstrates  this.  St. 
Paul  (1  Cor.  xi.)  made  an  ordinance  to  the  men  of  Corinth 


11.  De  Eccl.  Hierech,  c.  6. 

12.  Id.  c.  2. 

13.  Id.  c.  3. 

14.  Id.  c.  5. 

15.  Id.  c.  5. 

16.  Id.  c.  6. 

17.  Id.  c.  5. 


100  REGINALD  PECOCK 

that  they  should  not  "take  her  hosil  (Holy  Eucharist)  at 
night "  after  her  soper  (or  in  sum  other  special  maner 
thanne  vsid,  not  now  sureli  knowen)  for  to  therbi  con- 
tirfete  Cristis  doing  at  his  soper."  He  goes  on  to  say 
that  St.  Paul  gave  this  regulation  notwithstanding  the 
fact  that  the  former  custom  had  been  one  of  long  stand- 
ing. Furthermore,  St.  Paul  warns  them  that  he  will 
come  to  them  and  establish  more  laws  and  ordinances. 

PART  V 

Throughout  Part  V  of  this  work,  the  author  gives 
an  exhaustive  treatment  of  the  question  of  religious 
orders  and  religious  life.  He  sets  forth  various  argu- 
ments, quite  to  the  point,  both  from  reason  and  Scripture, 
in  support  of  his  thesis:  that  religious  orders  are  not 
merely  not  contrary  to  the  laws  of  God  but  are  in  con- 
formity with  the  ideals  enunciated  in  the  'Scripture.  He 
argues  thus:  the  religious  life  makes  many  more  men 
in  Christendom  morally  virtuous  and  good,  or  much  less 
vicious  and  bad,  than  they  would  have  been  had  they  not 
entered  the  religious  life.  Certainly  there  have  been 
hundreds  of  thousands  who  have  led  the  life  of  religious 
and  have  led  lives  much  less  vicious  and  evil  than  they 
would  have,  had  they  lived  as  laymen.  Take  all  the  men 
who  have  entered  the  religious  life  since  its  foundation, 
and  mark  well  how  they  would  have  lived  had  they  not 
entered  religion.  Certainly  they  would  not  have  lived 
lives  different  from  the  men  living  in  the  world  in  their 
day,  such  as  "gileful  crafti  men,  or  iurouris  and  quest- 
mongers,  or  pleders  for  mony,  or  as  sowdiers  f orto  fight 
and  slee  for  spoile  and  money, "  or,  as  they  in  Pecock's 
time  see  nearly  all  worldly  people  live,  who  live  covet- 
tously  and  according  to  the  flesh,  untruly  to  God  and  to 
man. 

As  to  the  words  of  the  Apostles  about  false  teachers, 
certainly  they  do  not  refer,  as  the  Lollards  maintain,  to 


CHURCHMAN  AND  MAN  OF  LETTERS  101 

the  religious  orders,  but  to  the  various  false  teachers  who 
lived  in  the  time  of  the  Apostles  and  after  the  Apostles 
down  through  the  ages,  to  WyclifTe.  He  specifies  thirty- 
six  different  bodies  of  heretics  that  had  arisen  at  various 
times  from  the  days  of  the  Apostles  to  those  of  Wycliffe. 
He  states  that  there  were  many  more  heretical  sects 
than  these,  as  is  seen  from  Ysidor  in  the  viije  book  of 
his  "Ethymologies,"  and  Austyn  in  his  book  "of  here- 
sies.'7 To  see  these  heresies  at  length,  he  must  read  the 
book  composed  by  "Epiphanius  the  Greke,"  and  that  of 
"Philaster  the  Latyn  writer." 

It  is  interesting  to  note,  since  Pecock  was  accused 
of  denying  the  existence  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  that  among 
the  various  sects  which  he  enumerates  are  those  who 
denied  either  the  presence  of  the  Holy  Ghost  among  the 
Apostles  as  did  the  "  Cataphrygians  or  Montanists," 
who  maintained  that  the  Holy  Ghost  came  not  into  the 
Apostles  but  into  the  members  of  their  own  sect,  or  those 
who  denied  the  existence  of  the  Holy  Ghost  as  God,  as  did 
the  Sabellians,  "which  holden  that  of  the  Fadir,  Sone, 
and  Holy  Goost  is  not  but  oon  person, "  or  the  Mace- 
donians "which  helden  that  the  Holy  Goost  was  not  God" 
and  the  Donatists  "which  helden  that  the  Sone  is  lasse 
than  the  Fadir,  and  the  Holi  Goost  lasse  than  the  Sone." 

Such  were  the  views  set  forth  in  Pecock 's  principal 
literary  undertaking.  Our  purpose  was  to  lay  a  synopsis 
of  the  work  before  the  reader,  emphasizing  the  most  im- 
portant principles  set  forth  in  the  treatise,  keeping  in 
mind  that  it  is  best  to  let  the  author  speak  for  himself. 
The  phrasing,  terminology,  and  argumentation  is  Pe- 
cock 's.  We  have  refrained  from  a  great  deal  of  com- 
ment, or  interpretation.  In  the  following  chapter  we  will 
enter  upon  a  more  detailed  study  of  Pecock  as  a  literary 
artist  and  the  exponent  of  fifteenth  century  prose. 


REGINALD  PECOCK 


CHAPTER  V 

REGINALD  PECOCK,  THE  EXPONENT  OF  FIFTEENTH 
CENTURY  PROSE. 

The  foregoing  is  a  synoptic  review,  a  general  im- 
pression of  Pecock's  thought,  artistic  appreciation,  power 
of  expression,  and  literary  qualifications.  His  other 
literary  productions  might  have  lent  themselves  to  the 
same  purpose,  but  the  results  would  have  been  less  con- 
clusive. The  Represser  is  his  greatest  work,  and  his 
principal  work.  Moreover,  it  was  the  principles  ad- 
vanced in  this  treatise  that  eventually,  in  his  own  day, 
gave  rise  to  the  accusation  of  heresy,  and  in  our  day, 
give  occasion,  but  not  with  justification,  to  certain  writers 
to  hail  him  as  a  prophet  of  Protestantism  and  of  the 
modern  school  of  Rationalism. 

Pecock  the  man  of  letters  is  the  subject  of  our  present 
undertaking,  and  one  of  the  two  primary  objects  of  the 
work  as  a  whole.  With  these  considerations  before  us, 
we  shall  enter  upon  a  more  thorough  investigation  of  his 
literary  qualities  properly  so  called.  In  the  course  of 
this  study,  excerpts  from  other  of  his  writings  will  be 
introduced  in  confirmation  of  findings  observed  in  the 
Represser,  or  in  evidence  of  literary  characteristics  not 
to  be  found  in  it.  Also  recourse  will  be  had  to  other  con- 
temporary prose  writers,  or  to  prose  writers  of  the  fif- 
teenth century  period,  to  the  end  that  in  the  comparison 
we  may  ascertain  our  author's  rightful  place  among  the 
exponents  of  the  prose  of  his  age. 

Perpetuation  is  an  end  to  which  all  living  things 
tend.  It  is  a  natural  impulse  coming  from  God  Himself. 
Man  lives  to  this  world  in  the  offspring  which  he  begets 
in  the  physical  order;  but  in  the  children  of  his  men- 
tality he  bequeathes  to  posterity  something  more  inti- 


CHURCHMAN  AND  MAN  OF  LETTERS  103 

mately  himself,  and  as  superior  as  mind  is  above  matter. 
The  man  of  letters  in  the  offspring  of  his  intelligence 
leaves  behind  himself,  his  personality,  his  moods,  his 
tempers,  his  joys,  his  sorrows,  his  emotions,  his  passions, 
his  temperament,  and  his  accentricities.  If  we  grasp 
this  we  comprehend  the  meaning  of  the  term  literature. 
Literature  is  not  science ;  nor  is  science  literature ;  litera- 
ture has  to  do  with  ideas,  science  with  realities;  litera- 
ture is  characteristically  personal,  science  comprehends 
the  universal  and  external.  Literature  is  no  longer 
literature,  but  becomes  science,  when  it  ceases  to  be  per- 
sonal; when  it  ceases  to  be  individual;  when  it  ceases 
to  be  Shakespeare,  or  Browning,  or  Tennyson.  Although 
this  is  particularly  true  of  verse  and  not  so  readily  recog- 
nizable in  prose,  it  is  nevertheless  true  of  both.  No  one 
who  is  sensitive  to  the  prose  style  of  Macaulay,  or  Burke, 
or  Newman  can  deny  it  for  an  instant.  The  trained  ear 
of  the  experienced  reader  will  detect  the  author  without 
difficulty.  There  is  something  in  the  rhythm,  the  phras- 
ing, the  mode  of  expression  that  is  differentiating;  and 
like  the  soothing  outpouring  of  a  crystal  spring  it  gives 
evidence  of  the  source  whence  it  came. 

In  approaching  the  study  of  an  author  these  ideas 
must  be  borne  in  mind.  The  historical  facts  of  a  writer 's 
life  assist  undoubtedly  in  the  better  understanding  of 
his  work,  but  the  fruit  of  his  imagination  and  intellect 
must,  if  he  is  worthy  of  the  name,  introduce  us  to  a  phase 
of  his  life  and  character  which  history  very  often  leaves 
untold.  We  approach  the  task  in  the  role  of  a  modern 
critic,  with  preconceived  ideas,  and  modern  canons  of 
criticism — it  is  difficult  completely  to  dispel  all  such,  and 
not  wholly  to  be  desired — and  we  find  that  in  reality  the 
fundamental  qualities  of  literature  are  not  circumscribed 
by  time,  or  race,  or  language.  This  is  true  of  art  in 
general.  Every  age  and  people  since  history  Began— 
we  may  suppose  that  even  before  its  dawn — has  had  its 
own  artistic  souls;  its  own  truly  great  literary  men. 


104  REGINALD  PECOCK 

There  is  a  rise  and  fall  among  nations  and  individuals 
in  the  literary  world ;  not  a  regular  progression  towards 
a  higher  state  of  perfection  with  each  succeeding  gen- 
eration; but  something  fitful,  and  capricious  for  which 
there  is  no  satisfactory  explanation.  This  phenomenon 
can  not  wholly  be  accounted  for  by  the  tastes  and  de- 
mands of  any  particular  age  or  people.  These  may  acci- 
dentally modify  it ;  Homer  is  Greek  reflecting  the  Greek 
mentality  and  culture ;  the  Sacred  Scriptures  are  Hebrew 
and  cannot  conceal  their  origin;  Cicero  is  Rome  at  the 
height  of  its  glory;  but  the  fundamental  qualities  that 
make  them  eternal  and  universal  in  their  appeal  are  the 
fundamental  qualities  of  all  art,  which  are  eternal  and 
universal. 

Reginald  Pecock  was  first  of  all  a  churchman,  and, 
whatever  his  literary  interests  and  acquisitions  may  have 
been,  they  were  all  handmaidens  to  the  one  great  interest 
of  his  life,  the  quest  of  immortal  souls.  Often  writing 
was  to  him  a  science,  and  not  always  an  art;  a  science 
used  as  a  means  for  strengthening  the  relation  of  souls 
with  their  Creator.  Very  early  in  his  career,  he  came 
to  realize  the  power  of  written  language  as  a  means  to 
this  end.  He  had  seen  it  utilized  by  the  enemies  of  the 
Church,  in  bringing  about  deplorable  conditions  to  the 
amending  of  which  he  had  dedicated  his  life  and  his 
abilities. 

His  treatment  of  the  subject-matter  was  not  that  of 
a  purely  scientific  treatise,  although  the  subject-matter 
itself  was  such  as  lent  itself  to  a  purely  scientific  treat- 
ment. Writers  before  and  since  have  filled  volumes  in 
handling  the  same  topics  in  a  purely  scientific  way.  Cir- 
cumstances determined  Pecock 7s  method;  and  these  same 
circumstances  influenced  him  as  a  man  of  letters.  One 
might  conjecture  what  he  might  have  produced  had  he 
sought  literature  as  an  end  in  itself;  one  may,  however, 
with  very  good  reason,  determine  the  nature  of  his  work, 
had  he  had  recourse  to  a  purely  scientific  method  in  the 


CHURCHMAN  AND  MAN  OF  LETTERS  105 

execution  of  his  writings.  In  all  likelihood,  he  would 
have  followed  the  traditional  and  conventional  method  of 
the  schools,  and  by  doing  so  would  have  accomplished 
little  or  nothing  in  a  literary  way  for  his  native  language. 
The  influence  of  the  Lollard  controversy  on  the  prose  of 
the  period  is  readily  understood,  when  one  realizes  that 
Pecock  wrote  for  a  class  of  people,  the  average  of  whom 
had  no  scientific  training.  His  writings  to  be  effective 
must  conform  to  the  capacities  of  this  class,  with  the 
consequence  that  there  was  a  reciprocal  influence  of  the 
popular  treatise  upon  his  literary  style,  as  well  as  his 
influence  upon  the  popular  treatise. 

His  principal  work  is  really  an  attempt  to  popularize 
the  traditional  scholastic  treatises  of  the  schoolmen.  His 
success  was  greater  than  it  would  have  been  had  the 
master-workman  been  less  fitted  to  the  task  than  was  the 
author  of  the  Repressor.  In  our  opinion  the  stereotyped 
form  of  the  schoolmen's  treatise,  while  lending  itself  to 
logical  argumentation,  has,  from  a  purely  literary  point 
of  view,  a  made-to-order  woodenness  about  it  that  lacks 
that  originality  and  spontaneity  of  expression  and  emo- 
tion so  essential  to  art.  It  has  an  unrealness  that  sug- 
gests a  superimposed  veneer.  Pecock,  particularly  in  his 
Represser,  has  taken  this  made-to-order  form  of  the 
Latin  treatise,  and  under  the  necessity  of  accommodat- 
ing himself  to  the  capacity  of  the  populace,  has  embel- 
lished it  with  much  that  is  of  literary  merit.  The  heavier 
lumber,  the  uprights  and  the  crossbeams,  are  still  quite 
visible.  For  the  student  of  St.  Thomas,  or  for  those 
acquainted  with  more  recent  treatises  on  scholastic  phil- 
osophy, or  even  with  the  contemporary  treatise  ' '  Gladius 
Salomonis,"1  the  general  outlines  of  the  Latin  treatise 
appearing  in  Pecock 's  works  can  not  be  disguised.  Pe- 
cock 's  early  training  at  Oxford,  the  stronghold  in  Eng- 
land of  the  schoolmen's  philosophy,  betrays  itself  on 
every  page.  Logic  and  the  syllogism  were  almost  an 

1.  John  Burv's  answer  to  Pecock. 


106  EEGINALD  PECOCK 

obsession  with  him.  They  were  the  one  panacea  for  all 
evils,  and,  strange  to  say,  it  seemed  the  workings  of  fate 
that  his  logic  was  one  of  the  factors  that  contributed  so 
much  to  his  downfall. 

It  is  in  the  general  outlines  of  his  literary  form  that 
this  influence  is  most  noticeable.  He  expounds  '"eleven" 
articles,  setting  forth  reasons  in  support  of  them;  but 
before  starting  upon  the  task  proper,  he  will  carry  the 
warfare  immediately  into  the  enemy  lines,  expounding 
three  fundamental  errors,  the  downfall  of  which  will 
mean  the  utter  collapse  of  the  enemy  stronghold.  Later 
he  takes  up  thirteen  conclusions,  and  quite  after  the 
method  of  St.  Thomas  himself,  centres  his  whole  attack 
about  the  syllogism/  He  establishes  his  major  premise, 
his  minor  and  his  conclusion,  very  methodically  offering 
arguments  in  confirmation  of  them.  This  exhaustive 
method  is,  indeed,  conclusive,  but  fatiguing  to  the  reader, 
since  the  interest  lags  after  several  interesting  argu- 
ments have  been  advanced  in  support  of  the  same 
premise.  If  a  criticism  is  to  be  offered,  it  should  be 
said  that  there  is  a  superfluity  of  argument.  His  scho- 
lastic training  is  seen  again  in  this,  that  he  foresees  the 
vulnerable  points  of  his  argument,  and  sets  himself  to 
the  defense. 

The  subject-matter  of  the  Represser,  strictly  speak- 
ing, belongs  in  the  scientific  treatise.  For  reasons  already 
suggested,  the  author  under  force  of  circumstances  pro- 
duced a  modified  form  of  the  traditional  treatise,  and  not 
the  treatise  properly  so  called.  Many  of  the  character- 
istics of  the  literary  form  known  several  centuries5  later, 
as  the  essay  have  been  introduced,  still  the  Represser 
could  never  be  classified  as  an  essay.  What  the  author 
of  the  Represser  really  attained  to,  although  it  can  not 
be  said  that  he  intended  it  or  even  adverted  to  the  fact, 
was  what  has  since  come  to  be  called  the  popular  treatise. 


2.  Eepressor,  Chap.  II,  Pt.  I. 

3.  Montaigne,  End  of  16th  Century. 


CHURCHMAN  AND  MAN  OF  LETTERS  107 

Pecock  had  other  adventures  in  literary  form.  While 
the  treatise  is  in  reality  the  proper  medium  of  expression 
for  the  subject-matter  of  his  various  productions,  still 
in  the  "Book  of  Faith"  we  find  him  attempting  the  dia- 
logue. It  is  not  the  dialogue  properly  so  called;  not  the 
dialogue  as  Plato  conceived  it,  but  rather  as  Berkely 
conceived  it ;  and  very  successfully  Pecock  utilized  it  to 
the  end  that  a  popular  turn  be  given  to  certain  very  dog- 
matic opinions,  about  which  there  is  no  diffidence,  there 
are  no  half-lights,  in  the  writer's  own  mind.  The  dia- 
logue is  essentially  an  essay,  an  essay  now  and  then 
taking  on  other  qualities  of  both  prose  and  poetry;  full 
of  every  art  to  captivate  the  fancy,  winning,  dramatic, 
eloquent,  full  of  digression;  now  relieving  the  mind  by 
the  most  playful  humour;  now  rising  into  solemnity  and 
poetry.  With  Pecock  such  a  form  was  uncalled  for ;  his 
subject  did  not  lend  itself  to  it  nor  did  he  rise  in  his 
efforts  to  the  highest  and  most  limited  form  of  the  dia- 
logue. With  Plato  the  dialogue  is  essential,  necessary, 
organic;  the  very  form  belongs  to  the  matter  which  it 
embodies,  for  Plato's  Dialogues  reflect  the  actual  method 
in  which,  by  preference  to  anything  like  formal  lecturing, 
Socrates  conveyed  his  doctrine  to  others.  It  is  the  liter- 
ary transformation,  in  a  word,  of  what  was  the  intimate 
and  homely  method  of  Socrates,  not  only  of  conveying 
truth  to  others  but  of  arriving  at  it  himself.  Always 
it  is  Socrates,  still  loitering  in  the  market  place  or  saun- 
tering forth  upon  the  streets  and  suburban  roads  of 
Athens  seeking  truth  from  others,4  seeking  it,  doubtless, 
from  himself,  but  along  with,  and  by  the  help  of,  his 
supposed  scholars. 

When  we  say  that  Pecock  attempts  the  dialogue  in 
the  "Book  of  Faith,"  it  must  be  understood  only  that  the 
very  general  outlines  of  the  dialogue  are  adopted.  The 
stiffness  of  the  scientific  treatise  is  relieved  by  the  intro- 
duction of  a  conversation  between  father  and  son.  It  is 


4.  Walter  Pater,  Plato  and  Platonism,  p.  158. 


108  REGINALD  PECOCK 

a  spiritual  father  and  a  spiritual  son ;  Pecock  himself  and 
an  imaginary  zealous  seeker  after  truth,  who  is  a  rather 
precocious  youth  of  considerable  experience  and  train- 
ing. Neither  of  the  personages  can  disguise  his  early 
training  in  the  methods  of  the  schools.  They  discuss  at 
length  with  syllogism,  with  majors  and  minors  and  con- 
clusions, distinguishing  and  conceding.  The  matter  of 
their  discussion  is  the  very  scientific  tract  on  faith  which 
is  treated  in  text-books  of  dogmatic  theology  under  the 
heading:  "Tractatus  De  Fide."  The  father  and  son 
carry  on  the  discussion  in  the  form  of  a  dialogue  through- 
out the  first  seven  chapters,  when  very  abruptly  the  dia- 
logue ceases  and  the  author  addresses  himself  to  an 
imaginary  opponent,  a  Lollard,  and  a  very  attentive 
listener  who  neither  questions,  nor  replies.  In  Part  II 
the  same  topic  is  continued  in  the  dialogue  form. 

In  the  "Book  of  Faith' '  we  see  Pecock  less  ham- 
pered, at  work  in  a  more  comprehensive  and  elastic 
literary  form,  in  which  there  is  greater  play  for  his 
originality  and  spontaneity.  The  same  observation  is 
applicable  to  individual  passages  of  his  other  works; 
but  in  the  "Book  of  Faith,"  which  is  one  of  his  latest 
productions,  the  author  seems  to  be  at  his  best.  There 
is  an  unction  and  rhythm  in  his  expression;  the  word- 
ing and  phrasing  come  rolling  forth  with  a  facility  and 
perfection,  like  a  fabric  from  a  well  regulated  and  well 
adjusted  loom.  The  experience  of  years  of  writing 
undoubtedly  was  manifesting  itself;  but  unquestionably 
the  freedom  of  the  dialogue  was  a  prime  factor. 

Before  quitting  the  general  characteristics,  we  must 
see  something  more  of  our  author's  technique  in  the 
execution  of  his  zealous  labours.  As  is  to  be  expected 
from  a  mind  so  logical,  trained  in  a  system  almost  me- 
chanical in  its  rigidness,  unity  of  thought  and  purpose 
is  outstanding  in  all  his  works.  The  fault,  if  it  be  a  fault, 
to  which  we  have  already  referred,  is  not  only  charac- 
teristic of  the  writings,  but  of  the  man  himself.  He 


CHURCHMAN  AND  MAN  OF  LETTERS  109 

attempts  to  be  exhaustive,  and  perhaps  emphatic,  by 
what  would  seem  in  our  day  a  needless  repetition  of  like 
arguments. 

Our  author  has  shown  in  his  workmanship  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  technical  aspect  of  writing  which  is  of  a  very 
high  order  and  in  advance  of  the  contemporary  writers 
of  vernacular  prose.  The  individual  treatise  taken  as  a 
whole  approaches  nearer  to  technical  perfection  than 
does  the  individual  sentence  or  paragraph.  To  some  it 
may  seem  an  exaggeration  to  speaks  of  Pecock,  in  the 
matter  of  technique,  as  the  Newman  of  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury. Certainly  no  prose  writer  of  the  period  handled 
the  sentence  with  such  skill.  This  is  especially  true  of 
the  periodic  sentence,  the  frequent  use  of  which  is  char- 
acteristic of  Pecock.  He  did  not,  however,  confine  him- 
self to  the  use  of  this  one  particular  structure.  Through- 
out his  writings,  every  kind  of  sentence,  which  writers 
of  the  best  periods  of  prose  have  utilized,  are  to  be 
found.  The  following  quotation  is  what  rhetoricians 
would  call  a  periodic  sentence.  It  is  a  striking  example 
of  Pecock ?s  control  over  the  " period": 

"Fadir,  it  semeth  to  my  resoun  out  of  this  to 
folowe,  that  if  Cristen  clergie  wer  wel  avisid  of  the 
evydencis  which  myghten  prove  her  bileeve  of  ech 
article,  and  if  the  seid  Cristen  clergie  wolden  gadere 
tho  evydencis  togidere,  ordynatli  and  formabli,  in 
forme  of  silogismes,  forto  have  redili  and  currauntli 
at  honde  and  at  mouthe,  whanne  ever  nede  were  to 
make  bi  hem  eny  profis,  and  if  herwith  the  lewis 
and  the  Sarracenes  wolden  geve  audience  for  to  heere 
and  now  seid  evydencis  to  be  myngstrid  to  hem  in 
the  seid  foorme,  and  bi  sufficient  leiser  at  dyvers 
tymes,  the  Cristen  clergie  schulde  convicte,  and  in 
maner  constreyne,  or  ellis  nede  the  undirstonding, 


110  REGINALD  PECOCK 

bothe  of  alle  lewis  and  of  all  Sarracenes,  to  bileeve 
after  Cristen  f eith,  and  to  be  convertid  therto,  where 
thei  wolden  or  nolden. '  '5 

The  very  frequent  use  of  such  long  sentences,  both  of 
periodic  and  of  loose  structure,  but  especially  the  latter, 
is  quite  characteristic  of  the  prose  writings  of  the  period. 
It  is,  however,  a  fault.  We  feel  that  the  style  would  be 
relieved,  the  reading  made  more  pleasurable,  and  the 
sense  conveyed  with  greater  facility,  were  the  long  sen- 
tence broken  up.  Pecock  in  this  respect  sins  less  against 
the  canons  of  rhetoric  than  any  of  his  contemporaries. 

Certainly  the  author  of  the  Represser  has  no  peer  in 
the  realm  of  fifteenth  century  prose.  While  one,  or 
perhaps  two,  can  in  some  respects  rank  with  him,  in 
form  and  finesse  all  are  inferior.  With  writers  like 
Wycliffe  and  Chaucer,  while  they  have  not  attained  to 
the  same  degree  of  development  of  a  literary  prose  style, 
nevertheless  their  inferiority  in  this  matter  is  more  than 
compensated  for  by  their  thought,  and  by  their  purity 
and  simplicity  of  language,  together  with  their  originality 
and  strikingness  of  expression.  Wycliffe,  among  the 
earliest  of  the  period,  and  leader  of  a  movement,  was  a 
radical  thinker  rather  than  a  literary  man.  His  English 
is  clear  and  nervous,  rather  stiff,  and  shows  a  great  deal 
of  sameness  in  rhythm  and  phrasing.  He  looked  to  what 
the  words  conveyed,  rather  than  to  the  words  and  their 
artistic  arrangement.  Imagination  is  lacking,  or  rather 
he  never  allows  himself  to  be  carried  away  by  it,  but  is 
almost  always  guided  by  his  intellect,  if  not  labouring 
under  some  prejudice.  One  short  characteristic  phrase 
is  sufficient  for  the  thought  as  it  occurs.  To  give  diver- 
sity and  color  to  his  diction  by  the  unexpected  use  of  a 
striking  word  in  the  right  place;  to  heighten  the  effect 
by  a  wise  economy  in  the  arrangement  and  expression; 
to  the  idea  of  such  devices  he  seems  never  to  have  ad- 


5.  Book  of  Faith,  Part  I,  Chapter   II. 


CHUKCHMAN  AND  MAN  OF  LETTEKS  111 

verted.  One  could  never  imagine  a  sermon  of  Wycliffe 
eloquent,  unless  Wy cliff e  himself  preached  it.  But  from 
the  mouth  of  Wycliffe  all  the  burning  emotionalism  of 
his  being,  all  the  uncontrolled  zeal  of  the  conventional 
reformer,  crowned  by  a  dominating  personality,  would 
pour  forth  in  the  highest  form  of  eloquence. 

The  following  is  quite  typical  of  Wy  cliff  e's  prose 
style.  Other  passages,  more  emotional,  almost  tragic, 
might  be  chosen  from  those  scenes  in  which  he  rails 
against  the  pope  whom  he  stigmatises  as  Anti-Christ; 
but  a  quieter  and  saner  passage  is  more  to  our  purpose 
in  ascertaining  his  usual  style  and  form.  It  ie  to  be 
observed  that  his  great  mentality  always  made  him  pro- 
pound a  doctrine  favourable  to  the  king  and  nobles.  He 
says : 

"The  King  hath  a  jurisdiction  and  power  of 
the  persons  of  high  Prelates  and  less  Priests,  and 
goods  of  holy  church.  That  Solomon  put  down  one 
high  priest,  and  ordained  another  in  his  place,  and 
outlawed  the  first  without  axing  help  of  Clerks,  for 
traitery  don  to  Solomon  and  his  people ;  and  treason 
agenst  Christ  and  his  law,  and  his  people,  is  more 
then  treason  agenst  an  earthly  Kinge,  and  more 
shulde  be  punished.  That  as  Peter  and  Paul  techen, 
lords  ben  ordained  of  God  to  venge  misdeeds  and 
misdoers,  and  to  praise  good  deeds  and  good 
doers."6 

At  a  glance,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  author  is  making 
little  effort  at  a  finished  prose  style.  The  impression 
received  is  that  the  author  has  one  principal  idea  in  mind, 
and  that  about  it  he  has  gathered  relative  ideas  in  sup- 
port which  he  is  freely  jotting  down. 

In  "The  Persones  Tale"  Chaucer  has  bequeathed  to 
us  an  interesting  prose  treatise  on  penance.  Like  the 


6.  MS,   e.   11    Of   Servants   and  Lords   MS.     The  spelling   is   greatly 
modernized. 


112  EEGINALD  PECOCK 

works  of  both  Pecock  and  Wycliffe  this  prose  work  is 
devoted  to  the  expounding  of  a  religious  doctrine.  The 
man  of  letters  in  this  period  seems  to  have  appreciated 
the  fact  that  prose  was  the  only  medium  for  imparting 
didactic  religious  teaching.  The  treatise  is  invaluable 
not  so  much  from  the  theological  viewpoint,  although  in 
this  respect  it  is  the  greatest  extant  English  prose 
treatise  on  the  subject  in  that  period,  but  it  is  invaluable, 
as  a  sequence  to  the  Canterbury  Tales,  in  so  far  as  it 
opens  a  new  vista  into  the  inner  life  and  character  of 
that  extraordinary  literary  genius  of  the  fourteenth 
century.  Ten  Brink  makes  this  observation  which  is 
very  much  to  the  point,  "Such  a  conclusion  is  not 
strange;  on  the  contrary,  it  is  in  perfect  harmony  with 
the  spirit  of  the  Middle  Ages.  And  yet  it  is  most  signif- 
icant as  showing  Chaucer's  frame  of  mind  when  he  gave 
the  final  touches  to  his  great  master-work."7 

The  following  quotation  is  a  typical  prose  passage 
from  Chaucer's  treatise  on  Penance: 

"And  therefore  oure  Lord  Jesu  Crist  seith  thus : 
'by  the  fruit  of  hem  ye  shul  knowen  hem.'  Of  this 
rote  eek  springeth  a  seed  of  grace,  the  which  seed 
is  moder  of  sikernesse,  and  this  seed  is  egre  and 
hoot.  The  grace  of  this  seed  springeth  of  God, 
thurgh  remembrance  of  the  day  of  dome  and  on  the 
peynes  of  helle.  Of  this  matere  seith  Salomon,  that 
'in  the  drede  of  god  man  forleteth  his  sinne.'  The 
hete  of  this  seed  is  the  love  of  god,  and  the  desiring 
of  the  joye  perdurable."5 

We  say  it  is  a  typical  passage.  It  is  rather  typical 
of  the  doctrinal  part  of  the  sermon.  Justice  can  hardly 
be  done  to  the  work  in  such  a  short  quotation.  Certainly 
the  author  had  a  very  clear  grasp  of  his  subject  and 


7.  Ten  Brink,  op.  cit.,  Vol.  II,  p.  183,  ed.  Wm.  C.  Robinson,  Ph.  D. 
D. 

8.  Chaucer,  The  Persones  Tale. 


CHURCHMAN  AND  MAN  OF  LETTERS  113 

exhibits  a  knowledge  of  the  doctrines  involved  that  would 
do  credit  to  a  churchman  of  distinction.  Is  it  presuming 
to  suppose  that  Chaucer  was  penning  another  of  his 
realistic  pictures?  The  subject  is  repentance  and  pen- 
ance; the  thoughts  of  one  grown  very  serious;  the 
thoughts  of  a  youth,  who  had  laughed  not  in  scorn,  whose 
soul  sparkled  to  overflowing  with  mirth  as  he  rollicked 
and  played  while  the  sun  was  high,  but  in  the  shadows  of 
evening,  bethinking  himself  of  the  day,  grew  serious  and 
concerned  about  the  things  that  really  count.  Can  we 
picture  the  poet  grown  old ;  beneath  the  pulpit,  listening 
with  attention  and  the  docility  of  a  child  to  the  consoling 
words  of  his  beloved  "parson":  "Our  swete  lord  god 
of  hevene,  that  no  man  wol  perisse,  but  wol  that  we 
come  alle  to  the  knoweleche  of  him,  and  to  the  blisful  lyf 
that  is  perdurable."9 

There  is  charm  in  the  simplicity  of  these  didactic 
passages,  and  a  rhythm  that  one  would  expect  from 
4  *  The  Father  of  English  Versification, ' '  but  a  rhythm  not 
indicative  of  the  author's  real  power.  There  is  a  logical 
sequence  and  unity  of  thought,  less  emphatic  perhaps, 
but  more  ascertainable  than  in  Wycliffe;  and  an  origin- 
ality of  expression  and  freedom  from  conventional  Latin 
treatise  forms  that  surpass  Pecock.  However,  the  sim- 
plicity of  phrasing,  and  the  regular  rhythmical  sameness 
become  interminable.  Pecock  becomes  tedious  in  his  at- 
tempt to  be  exhaustive ;  Chaucer  because  of  his  simplicity. 

Pecock  was  not  alone  in  his  knowledge  and  command 
of  the  technique  of  prose.  Chaucer  had  a  very  compre- 
hensive knowledge  of  the  science  of  prose  composition, 
as  well  as  a  mastery  over  verse.  The  music  of  his  periods 
is  light  and  thin  even  in  his  attempts  to  be  very  serious ; 
quite  unlike  the  stentorian  roll  of  Pecock 's  periods. 

As  we  have  noted  before,  the  frequency  with  which 
Pecock  and  Wycliffe  made  use  of  both  the  periodic  and 
loose  sentence,  was  a  fault  of  construction,  a  fault  com- 


9.  Ibid. 


114  EEGINALD  PECOCK 

mon  in  the  period.  In  Chaucer,  the  simple  sentence  is 
employed  more  freely  and  oftener.  Chaucer,  undoubt- 
edly, understood  all  these  devices  of  rhetoric  and  did  not 
hesitate  to  employ  them.  The  following  quotation,  a 
prayer  of  repentance  on  the  part  of  the  poet  himself, 
a  regret  for  some  of  his  compositions  that  may  have 
given  scandal  and  done  harm,  is  an  instance  of  the  use 
of  the  period,  rather  than  a  great  prose  selection : 

"But  of  the  translacion  of  Boece  de  Consola- 
cione,  and  othere  bokes  of  Legendes  of  seintes,  and 
omelies  and  moralitee,  and  devocioun,  that  thanke 
I  oure  Lord  Jesu  Crist  and  his  blisful  moder,  and 
alle  the  seintes  of  hevene;  bisekinge  him  that  they 
from  hennes  forth,  unto  my  lyves  ende,  sende  me 
grace  to  biwayle  my  giltes,  and  to  studie  to  the  sal- 
vacioun  of  my  soule: — and  graunte  my  grace  of 
verray  penitence,  confessioun  and  satisfacioun  to 
doon  in  this  present  lyf ;  thurgh  the  benigne  grace 
of  him  that  is  king  of  kinges  and  preest  over  all 
preestes,  that  boghte  us  with  the  precious  blood  of 
his  herte ;  so  that  I  may  been  oon  of  hem  at  the  day 
of  dome  that  shulle  be  saved. ' no 

Thus  far  we  have  been  treating  of  the  more  general 
outlines  of  Pecock's  prose  form.  In  the  course  of  the 
study  we  have  noted  also  some  of  the  general  character- 
istics of  prose  form  as  seen  from  two  of  the  leading 
literary  men  of  the  period.  There  are,  however,  other 
qualities  that  must  be  sought  out  in  the  study  of  an 
author.  Some  of  these  we  have  suggested  merely,  in  the 
foregoing  study,  and  it  will  be  our  endeavor  in  the  re- 
maining part  of  this  chapter  to  dwell  upon  them  at 
greater  length  and  detail. 

There  is  no  set  formula  by  which  the  merits  of  a 
literary  production  can  be  estimated.  Literary  critics 
are  not  unanimous  in  their  conclusions ;  nor  can  they  be, 


10.  Conclusion  of,  "The  Persones  Tale.: 


CHURCHMAN  AND  MAN  OF  LETTERS  115 

since  literary  criticism  is  an  art  rather  than  a  science; 
its  conclusions  are  the  result  of  feeling  and  appreciation 
rather  than  hard  and  fast  rules.  However,  there  are 
certain  fundamentals,  comprehending  the  whole  field  of 
both  prose  and  poetry,  upon  which  all  more  or  less  agree. 
There  are  certain  qualities  of  style  that  may  be  present 
in  any  literary  work;  and  certain  of  these,  not  all,  con- 
comitantly,  must  be  present  if  the  production  is  to  be 
classified  as  literature  properly  so  called.  There  are  the 
intellectual  qualities  of  style  that  correspond  to  the  ele- 
ment of  thought ;  the  emotional  qualities  arising  from  the 
appeal  to  the  emotions ;  the  imaginative  corresponding  to 
the  element  of  ideality,  and  the  aesthetic  qualities  aris- 
ing from  the  melody  and  harmony. 

The  intellectual  qualities  of  style  are  not  necessarily 
artistic,  although  they  may  form  a  true  basis  of  style. 
In  works  of  a  didactic  nature,  such  as  our  author  exe- 
cuted, it  is  seen  without  a  second  glance  that  the  intel- 
lectual qualities  are  a  prime  requisite ;  all  other  qualities 
are  secondary  and  subordinate.  "A  great  author,"  says 
Cardinal  Newman,  "is  not  one  who  merely  has  a  'copia 
verborum,'  whether  in  prose  or  verse,  and  can,  as  it  were 
turn  on  at  his  will  any  number  of  splendid  phrases  and 
swelling  sentences;  but  he  is  one  who  has  something  to 
say  and  knows  how  to  say  ii."11  Pecock  had  something 
to  say  and  he  said  it  with  a  logic  that  is  almost  irrefut- 
able, and  with  an  unction  and  zeal  that  are  contagious. 
Even  the  modern  reader  loses  sight  of  the  archaisms, 
and  the  unusual  phrasing  and  expression.  The  ingenious 
methods  of  attack  and  defense  in  the  argument;  the 
copious  outpouring  of  language  in  dignified  harmonious 
rhythm,  are  sufficient  to  arrest  the  attention,  bearing  it 
eagerly  on  from  major  premise  to  conclusion. 

These  general  observations  are  not  meant  to  be 
absolute  but  must  be  qualified.  There  are  particular 
instances  where  Pecock  descends  to  sophistry.  A  strik- 


11.  Newman,  Idea  of  a  University,  Literature. 


116  KEGINALD  PECOCK 

ing  example  of  this  is  in  the  Represser  where  he  attempts 
to  prove  that  the  ruse  of  the  friars  in  counting  money 
with  a  stick  was  not  inconsistent  with  their  vows  of 
poverty.  There  are  also  instances  of  inconsistencies 
which  give  one  the  impression  that  the  author  is  arguing 
for  argument's  sake.  An  instance  of  this  is  in  his  argu- 
ment for  submission  to  the  teaching  church,  "the  hool 
chirche  of  the  clergie,"  in  which  he  denounces  the  Lol- 
lard for  relying  upon  his  own  individual  reason  in  the 
interpretation  of  Scripture.  He  says  in  part,  "And  if 
thou  wolte  pretende  thi  natural  resoun  forto  be  so  cleer 
in  his  nature,  into  the  fynding  of  right  and  dew  undir- 
stonding  of  Holy  Scripture,  that  thi  natural  witt  schal 
do  as  myche  as  alle  the  natural  resouns  of  al  the  clergie 
of  the  chirche,  etc."1^  On  the  other  hand  he  extols  the 
reasoning  of  an  individual  above  that  of  a  general 
council,  when  he  says,  "For  certis,  it  may  be  that  sum 
oon  symple  persoone  as  in  fame,  or  in  state,  is  wiser 
forto  knowe,  iuge,  and  declare  what  is  the  trewe  sense  of 
a  certeyn  porcioun  of  Scripture,  and  what  is  the  treuthe 
of  sum  article,  and  that  for  his  longe  studiyng,  laboring, 
and  avising  therupon,  than  is  a  greet  general  conceil."15 

Pecock  resorts  to  sophistry  and  arrives  at  conclu- 
sions unworthy  of  his  intelligence.  He  does  not  mean 
that  the  intelligence  of  a  simple  individual  is  superior 
to  the  combined  intelligence  of  all  the  members  of  a 
council.  If  this  were  conceded,  a  great  portion  of  his 
saner  and  past  reasoning  in  both  the  Represser  and 
Book  of  Faith  becomes  mere  sophistry  and  contra- 
dictory. In  this  particular  instance  he  confuses  the  in- 
fluence that  the  individual  by  his  eloquence  and  persua- 
sive abilities  may  have  upon  the  whole  assembly,  with 
that  of  the  individual's  intellectual  powers. 

There  is  another  fault  to  be  found  in  Pecock 's  works 
taken  individually.  It  may  seem  inconsistent,  since  we 

12.  Pecock,  Boole  of  Faith,  ed.  Morison,  Part  I,  Ch.  X. 

13.  Ibid.  Part  II,  Ch.  IV. 


CHUKCHMAN  AND  MAN  OF  LETTEKS  117 

have  already  observed  that  his  method  of  argumentation 
is  very  exhaustive,  to  state  in  a  second  breath  that  in 
certain  respects  he  was  not  sufficiently  exhaustive  in  his 
treatment  of  his  subject-matter.  The  individual  treatise, 
and  this  is  especially  noticeable  in  the  Book  of  Faith, 
leaves  the  reader  with  suspended  judgment  as  to  the 
author's  opinions  in  certain  fine  points  of  orthodoxy. 
This  is  due,  no  doubt,  to  the  fact  that  the  individual 
treatise  was  one  of  a  series,  each  of  which  supplemented 
the  other.  The  author  seemed  to  realize  that  certain  of 
his  arguments  needed  additional  expansion,  and  for  this 
reason  we  frequently  find  references  to  other  works 
where  the  subject  is  treated  more  at  length.  Such  are 
references  to  The  book  of  presthode,14  The  book  of 
the  chirche,15  lust  apprising  of  Roll  Scripture,16 
the  iust  apprising  of  doctouris,17  and  numerous  other 
references.  Unfortunately  these  works  are  no  longer 
extant,  and  our  conclusions  regarding  the  author's  opin- 
ions will  always  have  to  be  received  with  qualifications. 
Certainly,  definite  charges  of  heresy  were  made  at  his 
trial,  after  a  great  number  of  his  works  were  supposed 
to  have  been  examined.  However,  in  the  light  of  those 
works  still  with  us,  all  of  the  charges  can  not  be  sub- 
stantiated, and  about  the  majority  of  them  an  atmosphere 
of  suspicion  hangs.  One  gets  the  impression  that  with  a 
friendlier  body  of  judges  Pecock  could  have  explained 
away,  if  not  all,  at  least  the  majority  of  the  accusations. 

Again,  Pecock  at  times  in  his  argument  has  recourse 
to  a  hypothesis.  Later,  and  remotely  removed  from  the 
hypothetical  statement,  other  misleading  observations 
are  made  which  can  not  be  thoroughly  understood  unless 
considered  in  relation  to  the  hypothesis.  From  a  literary 
point  of  view,  this  is  a  lack  of  clearness  and  simplicity. 
Very  frequently  this  statement  appears:  " Every  singu- 
ler  personne  ...  is  bounden,  undir  peyne  of  dampnaci- 

14  and  15.     Ibid.,  Pt.  I,  Ch.  X. 
16  and  17.  Ibid.  Pt.  I,  Ch.  III. 


118  REGINALD  PECOCK 

oun,  for  to  bileeve  tliilk  same  article  as  f eitli  .  .  .  though 
the  chirche  therynne  bileeved  or  determyned  falseli  or 
amys."15  The  real  significance  of  such  a  statement  can 
not  be  properly  understood  unless  considered  in  relation 
to  the  observation  made  by  Pecock  in  the  prologue  to 
The  Book  of  Faith,  where  the  author  remarks  that  it 
is  useless  to  appeal  to  this  "lay  party"  on  the  ground 
that  the  Church  or  a  General  Council  is  infallible,  since 
they  would  only  laugh  one  to  scorn.  However,  he  will 
prove  from  reason  to  this  "lay  party"  that  "we  owen  to 
bileeve  and  stonde  to  sum  seier  or  techer  which  may 
faile,  while  it  is  not  knowe  that  thilk  seier  or  techer 
therynefailith."*5 

Naturally  the  more  aesthetic  qualities  of  style,  ar- 
tistic qualities  properly  so  called,  such  as  the  emotional 
appeal,  pathos,  and  the  ludicrous,  are  not  to  be  found  in 
any  marked  degree  in  any  of  Pecock 's  works.  The  very 
nature  of  his  subject-matter  would  exclude  them,  and 
what  is  more,  the  elementary  state  of  development  of 
prose  language  did  not  lend  itself  to  the  expression  of 
those  finer  qualities  which  are  so  characteristic  of  the 
literary  essay  and  treatise  of  a  later  and  more  plastic 
period.  As  has  been  noted  before,  the  great  poets  and 
literary  artists  of  the  period^  had  not  come  to  realize 
the  possibilities  of  the  essay  or  treatise  as  a  literary  form 
properly  so  called.  Chaucer's  prose  can  not  be  ranked 
with  his  verse. 

The  dialectical  powers  are  the  outstanding  charac- 
teristics of  our  author.  However,  that  which  is  next  in 
importance  and  supplementary  to  the  other  great  gifts  is 
his  ability  to  illustrate  his  point  by  means  of  a  homely 
striking  example.  In  proof  of  the  conclusion  that  truths 
of  natural  law  are  not  founded  in  Holy  Scripture,  he 


18.  Pt.  I,  Ch.  VII,  ibid. 

19.  Prologue,  Book  of  Faith. 

20.  Really  Chaucer  was  the  only  great  artist,  unless  we  consider  the 
Scotch  school  immediately  following  1400  A.  D. 


CHURCHMAN  AND  MAN  OF  LETTEES  119 

makes  use  of  the  homely  old  custom^1  of  countrymen 
bringing,  on  Midsummer  Eve,  flowers  and  branches  of 
trees  to  the  citizens  of  London,  with  which  they  could 
decorate  their  houses.  He  observes  that  the  flowers  and 
branches  did  not  grow  out  of  the  carts  and  hands  of  the 
countrymen,  but  had  their  foundation  in  the  land.  An- 
other striking  example  is  that  of  Christ  and  his  Apostles 
bringing  fish  which  they  had  caught.  His  comment  on 
this  is  that  God  forbid,  that  men  for  reverence  would 
take  such  liberty  with  truth  as  to  say  that  the  fish  grew 
out  of  the  hands  of  Christ  or  the  Apostles,  and  not  in 
the  sea.** 

Pecock's  illustrations  are  homely  but  forceful.  His 
originality  and  power  of  expression  is  best  set  forth  in 
his  applying  an  example.  Here  for  an  instant  he  forgets 
his  academic  phrasing  and  for  an  instant  we  see  and  hear 
the  author.  He  warns  the  "Bible  men"  against  the 
danger  of  dissension.  They  remind  him  of  the  dogs  in  the 
market  place  who  snarl  and  tear  one  another.  Moreover, 
they  should  not  forget  what  the  same  sort  of  dissension 
did  for  Bohemia  where  the  city  and  University  of  Prague 
were  destroyed.  This  was  all  to  no  avail,  for  after  the 
destruction  the  people  were  glad  to  return  to  the  unity 
of  the  Catholic  and  universal  faith  and  doctrines  of  the 
Church/5 

He  draws  a  very  striking  picture  of  a  "learned" 
doctor  of  the  period.  Sarcasm  is  in  every  line,  and  be- 
neath the  surface  one  can  not  help  but  detect  the  quiet 
humour/4 

Reginald  Pecock,  in  the  estimation  of  some  men  was 
candid  to  a  fault.  There  is  indeed  that  open  sincerity 
and  frankness  about  him  that  made  him  one  of  his  own 
greatest  enemies,  but  an  openness  and  sincerity  that 
endears  him  to  the  unbiased  observer.  He  communicates 


21.  Eepressor,  Pt.  I,  Ch.  VI. 

22.  Ibid.  Pt.  I,  Ch.  VI. 

23.  Eepressor,  Pt.  I,  Ch.  VI. 

24.  Ibid.  Pt.  I,  Ch.  XVI. 


120  EEGINALD  PECOCK 

this  quality  to  his  writings.  It  shows  through  in  every 
paragraph.  Tolerant  he  was  with  the  common  weak- 
nesses of  men,  but  for  the  insincere  man  he  held  no  brief. 
Like  the  Master  Himself,  he  rose  in  his  might  and 
scourged  them  forth.  For  the  egotistical  strutting  doctor 
he  had  naught  but  caustic  denunciation;  the  pleasant 
popular  preachers  among  the  friars  were  "pulpit 
bawlers";  for  the  misguided,  illiterate  Lollard  he  had 
gentle,  kindly,  fatherly  advice,  while  their  leaders  were 
to  him  "hypocrites,  adulterers  and  lecherous  men."  Nor 
was  he  a  respecter  of  persons.  A  lover  of  authority,  yes, 
but  not  a  fawning  sycophant. 

It  is  amusing  and  almost  approaching  the  ludicrous 
to  hear  Pecock  state  that  his  purpose  in  his  works  was 
to  conciliate  the  lay  party.  Conciliation  is  an  incongru- 
ous term  when  applied  to  the  author  of  the  Represser. 
In  addition  to  the  many  uncomplimentary  things  which 
we  have  already  observed,  our  author  in  the  following 
passage  gives  expression  to  his  method  which  is  typical 
of  his  idea  of  conciliation.  He  says,  "And  if  thou  wolte 
pretende  thi  natural  resoun  f  orto  be  so  cleer  in  his  nature, 
into  the  fynding  of  the  right  and  dew  understonding  of 
Holi  Scripture,  that  thi  natural  witt  schal  do  as  myche 
as  alle  the  natural  resouns  of  al  the  clergie  of  the  chirche, 
.  .  .  which  thing  is  ful  unlikli,  that  noon  in  al  the 
multitude  of  clergie  is  now,  or  hath  be  so  cleer  in  such 
witt  as  thou  art,  etc. '  ^5 

There  is  one  final  passage  that  should  be  seen  at 
length.  It  is  important  first  of  all  for  its  literary  quali- 
ties; it  is  one  of  Pecock 's  great  prose  passages.  None 
other  of  his  possesses  the  outstanding  characteristics  of 
good  prose  as  does  this  one.  It  is  also  important  insofar 
as  it  sheds  considerable  light  upon  any  doubt  that  may 
arise  regarding  Pecock 's  formal  attitude  towards  the 
universal  Church  and  her  teachings.  He  remarks  as 
follows:  "And  thanne  afjir  alle  these  thus  bifore  going 

25.  Book  of  Faith,  Pt.,  Ch.  X. 


CHURCHMAN  AND  MAN  OF  LETTERS  121 

argumentis,  y  argue  ferther  thus.  Sithen  who  ever  bi 
ful  avisement  agenstondith  God,  and  his  ordynaunce, 
puttith  him  into  dampnable  synne,  and  perel  of  dampna- 
cioun,  it  folowith  that  who  ever  avisidli  agenstondith, 
and  unobeith  the  prelatis  of  the  chirche,  in  cause  and 
mater  of  f eith  teching,  and  leernying,  and  fulfilling,  with- 
out the  seid  excepcioun,  he  therynne  synnyth  deedli  and 
dampnabili.  Wolde  God  that  lay  peple  hadden  in  her 
modir  tunge  the  epistilis  of  Seynt  Ignace,  the  blissid  and 
holi  martir,  and  disciple  of  Seint  Johnne  evangelist,  and 
whom  Denyce  hath  in  comendacioun  bi  writing  in  his  book 
of  Goddis  Namyngis.  For  certis,  red  y  never  in  no 
mannys  writingis,  so  tendirli  charchid,  the  obeischaunce 
to  bischopis  and  to  preestis  as  is  there  in  his  writing  ofte 
chargid.  How  holi  a  man  "he  was,  and  hou  greet  a  doer 
in  the  chirche,  in  the  dales,  and  bischop,  yhe,  patriarke 
of  the  greet  Antioche,  may  be  rad  in  a  storie  ioyned  to 
hise  epistlis,  which  storie  was  writen  in  tho  same  daies 
bi  a  persoone  which  knewe  sureli,  as  he  there  knowl- 
echith,  al  the  persecucioun  of  Ignacis  martirdom.  Ech 
man  and  woman  therefore  be  ware,  and  bise  himsilf  hou 
he  stondith  in  the  point  of  this  present  purpos.  For 
feithfulli  forto  seie,  manye  which  holden  him  silf  ful 
cleene  from  dampnable  synne,  and  ful  perfit  lovers  and 
kepers  of  Goddis  lawe,  ben,  in  as  myche  as  y  can  deme, 
in  the  now  tretid  and  spokum  dampnable  synne,  so  that, 
for  al  her  glorie  of  her  conscience,  thei  stonden  in  case 
of  the  gospel;  that  a  litil  sowrdough  in  her  soule  cor- 
ruptith  al  the  lumpe  of  her  conversacioun  and  servyce 
to  God.  .  .  And  therefore,  as  y  seid  bif ore,  alias  and  out 
upon  so  greet  blindness  in  hem,  which  pretenden  hem  to 
be  of  more  kunnyng  than  other  in  Goddis  lawe,  and 
clepen  hem  silf  therfore  knowing  men.  Verili  to  seie, 
this  pride  and  presumpcioun  stynkith  bif  ore  God;  yhr 
and  peraventure  more  than  the  synnys  of  othere  men, 
which  thei  in  her  hertis  bittirli  condempen.  And  if  y 
schulde  seie  my  feling,  peraventure  the  unobedience  of 


122  REGINALD  PECOCK 

Adam  and  Eve  was  not  so  myche  gilti,  neither  the  pride 
of  Lucifer ;  but  whether  this  be  trewe  or  no,  y  remitte  it 
to  God ;  but  herof  y  muste  holde  me  sikir,  that  if  Lucifer 
and  Adam  were  in  dampnable  synne  for  her  pride,  and 
presumpsioun,  and  unobedience,  forsothe  as  f orto  iuge  bi 
the  comoun  lawe  of  God,  goven  to  alle  Cristen  men,  alle 
the  now  bifore  spokun  agenstonders  to  prelatis  of  the 
chirche  ben,  for  thilke  agenstonding,  in  dampnable  synne, 
and  ellis  the  seid  comoun  lawe  of  God  were  not  trewe.  "^ 

There  are  a  few  more  observations  to  be  made  re- 
garding Pecock  7s  style.  There  is  a  certain  use  of  words 
and  phrases  that  is  characteristically  Pecock.  The 
author  of  the  Represser,  as  we  have  already  observed, 
is,  in  his  treatment  of  a  subject,  exhaustive  to  a  fault. 
Nevertheless,  it  is  Pecock;  it  is  the  mentality  of  the  man. 
In  his  exemplification  of  a  point  of  argument,  we  have 
seen  that  one  simile  or  metaphor  or  example  does  not 
satisfy  him,  but  they  must  be  multiplied  until  the  repeti- 
tion becomes  tedious.  So  also  in  his  use  of  words  and 
phrases  he  attempts  to  be  exhaustive.  Scarcely  a  para- 
graph of  his  various  writings  can  be  found  in  which  the 
arrangement  of  words  and  phrases  such  as  the  following 
is  not  to  be  found.  There  is  redundancy  in  his  use  of 
words,  which  he  combines  into  rhythmical  pairs  such  as : 
"seier  or  techer";  "credence  and  faith";  "word  and 
speche " ;  "  remove  and  take  awey " ;  "  admitte  and 
graunte";  "gendrith  and  getith";  "leerne  and  gete"; 
"erre  and  faile";  "acceptid  and  allowid";  "denouncid 
and  enformed";  "ordynatli  and  formabli";  "concluding 
and  schewing";  "opener  and  clerer";  "telling  or  de- 
nouncing ' ' ;  "  bi  another  wey,  and  in  another  maner. ' ' 

Also  a  triplex  combination  of  words,  as:  "bifore 
spokun  attendaunce,  herkenyng,  and  heering";  "writ- 
yng,  fynding  and  knowing";  "opener,  and  clerer,  and 
sickerer " ;  "  provying  and  concluding  and  schewing ' ' ; 
"unworthiest  and  yongist  and  lowest";  "iuge,  deeme, 

26.  Ibid.,  Pt.  i,  Ch.  VII,  pp.  189-194. 


CHURCHMAN  AND  MAN  OP  LETTERS  .  123 

and  consent";  "to  be  sende,  and  to  be  govun  or  lende 
abrood";  "must  go,  and  proceede,  and  be  maad." 

Also  the  frequent  use  of  such  phrases  as:  "now 
spokun  " ;  "  now  errying  " ;  "  f ul  of te  " ;  "  more  and  higher 
treting  " ;  "  bif  ore  writen  " ;  "  last  givun  " ;  "  bif  ore  seid ' ' ; 
"wel  avisid";  "so  gete";  "therfore  doyng";  "bif ore 
knew";  "soner  impunge";  "rehercid  there — and  there 
rehercid"  (in  the  same  sentence) ;  "never  the  lasse  and 
never  the  latter" ;  "ask  and  leerne — answer  and  seie." 

There  is  also  the  Latin  use  of  the  verb  construction ; 
the  sense  being  suspended  by  placing  the  verb  or  part 
of  the  verb  construction  at  the  end  of  the  phrase  or  sen- 
tence as  "  communicacioun  schal  be  with  the  persoongs 
had";  or  again,  "utterly  into  uce  delyvered";  or, 
"whanne  thei  it  receyveden." 

Then,  too,  there  is  the  frequent  recurrence  of  the 
Latin  sentence  construction  to  be  found  so  prevalent  in 
the  Latin  treatise  of  the  time.  An  exemplification  of  this 
is  to  be  had  in  the  following :  ' i  Wherefore,  sithen  every 
opinioun  which  is  not  feith  is  maad  the  strenger  and 
perfiter  in  his  kinde,  bi  that  that  the  mo,  and  the  perfiter, 
and  the  strenger  evydencis  perteynyng  to  his  kinde  ben 
had,  as  no  wys  clerk  wole  seie  nay,  it  folowith  bi  lijk 
skile  that  every  opinioun  which  is  feith,  is  maad  the 
strenger  and  the  perfiter  in  his  kinde,  bi  that  the  mo  and 
the  perfiter  and  strenger  evydencis,  perteynyng  forto 
gendre  an  opinial  feith  ben. '  ^7 

With  these  observations  we  conclude  our  study  of 
Keginald  Pecock  and  fifteenth  century  prose.  From  the 
beginning,  and  especially  in  the  latter  part  of  this  work, 
our  interests  have  been  primarily  literary.  The  one  con- 
viction, it  seems  to  us,  that  must  be  the  reward  for  efforts 
spent  in  delving  into  the  secrets  of  fifteenth  century 
letters,  is  that  the  period,  a  prose  period,  is  of  a  much 
higher  order  in  a  literary  way  than  is  ordinarily  con- 
ceded ;  and  a  conviction  intimately  related  to  this  is,  that 


27.  Ibid.,  pp.  141-2. 


124  REGINALD  PECOCK 

Eeginald  Pecock,  Bishop  of  Chichester,  and  greatest  ex- 
ponent of  prose  writing  of  his  time,  was  a  man  of  letters 
and  literary  talents  of  a  very  high  order.  Had  he  con- 
tinued his  literary  labours,  one  feels  that  the  age  of  More 
and  Fisher  and  Latimer  would  have  been  a  generation 
earlier.  Perhaps,  too,  in  the  religious  affairs  of  England, 
had  a  More  or  a  Fisher  been  a  generation  earlier,  relig- 
ious controversy  might  have  taken  a  different  turn. 


CHURCHMAN  AND  MAN  OF  LETTERS  125 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

PECOCK 's  EXTANT  WORKS 

1.  The  Donet  (about  the  year  1440). 

A  manuscript  in  the  Bodleian  Library,  Oxford.  (Bod. 
n.  916.)  Also  a  transcript  by  Doctor  James,  en- 
titled, Reginald  Pecock's  Donet.  (James  MS.  n. 
14  in  Bibl.  Bodl.  pp.  49-79.) 

2.  The  Represser  (A.  D.  1449). 

A  MS.  in  the  University  Library,  Cambridge  (Kk.  iv. 
26).  Represser  of  Much  Over  Blaming  of  the 
Clergy  ed.  by  Churchill  Babington,  1860  A.  D..; 
Rolls  Series. 

3.  The  Book  of  Faith  (A.  D.  1456). 

A  MS.  in  the  library  of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge 
(B.  14,  15),  Reginald  Pecock's  Book  of  Faith, 
A  Fifteenth  Century  Theological  Tractate  ed. 
from  above  MS.  by  J.  Morrison,  M.  A.  1909. 

4.  The  Follower  to  the  Donet  (about  1454  A.  D.). 

A  MS.  in  the  British  Museum,  Bibl.  Reg.  17  D  ix. 

5.  The  Reule  of  Crysten  Religioun  (about  1443  A.  D.). 

ed.  by  James  Gairdner  C.  B.,  LL.  D.,  D.  Litt, 
printed  privately  for  J.  Pearson  &  Co.,  London. 

6.  The  Poor  Men's  Mirror. 

A  MS.  formerly  in  Archbishop  Tenison's  Library, 
now  in  the  library  of  Lord  Amherst  of  Hackney. 

(a)  Collectanea  quaedam  ex  Reginalds  Pecock  Cices- 
trensis  episcopi  opuscutis  exustis  consevata,  etc. 
(printed  in  John  Foxe's  Comment  arii  rerum  in 
Ecclesia  gestarum.  8  vo.  Argent.  1554,  fol.  199, 
b-203,  b.) 

(b)  Abbreviatio  Reginaldi  Pecock. 

,  A  MS.  in  the  Bodleian  Library,  Oxford,  (n.  117, 
formerly  n.  1979,  Cat,  Libr.  MSS.  Angl.  p.  100.) 


126  REGINALD  PECOCK 

WORKS  NOT  KNOWN  TO  BE  EXTANT 
A  list  of  at  least  thirty-four  works  both  in  Latin  and  in 

English  may  be  found  in  Babington's  edition  of  the 

Represser.    Rolls  Series. 

CONTEMPORARY  ACCOUNTS  AND  WORKS 
Full  account  copied  by  Stow  Annals,  and  from  Stow  by 

Holinshed. 
Hewlett,    Cronicle    of    Grey    Friars.      In    Monumenta 

Franciscana,  vol.  II.     Rolls  Series,  1882,  sub.  an. 

1457.     For  Pecock's  abjuration.     See  also  Wilkin's 

Concilia  vol.  Ill,  p.  576. 
Gascoigne,  Thomas,  Dictionarium  Theologium.   Extracts 

in  Gascoigne  7s  Loci  e  Libro  Veritatum,  ed.  Rogers, 

J.  E.  P.  Oxford,  1881.    Contains  much  information 

by  a  bitter  enemy. 
Historical   MSS    Commission,    12th   Report,   Appendix, 

Part  IX,  1891,  pp.  385,  584. 
Rolls  of  Parliament,  Vol.  V,  p.  279. 
Whethamstede,  Registrum  Abbot.  Johnius,  ed.  Riley,  H. 

T.  2  vols.  Rolls  Series,  1872-3.    Also  but  less  correct 

in  T.  Hearne's  Due  Rerum  Anglicarum  Scriptores 

Veteres  1732,  vol.  II,  the  view  of  a  bitter  enemy. 
Wharton  MSS  in  Lambeth  Palace,  Libr.  Nos.  577,  594. 
Archiv.  Vatic,  reg.  Vatic.  Pii  II,  vol.  499,  fol.  63. 
Archiv.  Vatic.  Calixti  III,  vol.  462,  fol.  326-327. 
Archiv.  Vatic,  reg.  Laternanen.     Nicolai  Vol.  465,  fol. 

222-225. 

Vatican  Transcript  in  Brit.  Mus.  xxxiii  484,  seq. 
Camden  Society,  Three  Fifteenth  Century  Chronicles,  pp. 

71,  167-168. 
Davies,  English  Chronicles  of  the  reigns  of  Ric.  II,  Hen. 

IV,  Hen.  V,  and  Hen.  VI,  pp.  75,  seq.     (Camden 

Society). 
Leland,  Collectanea  ii  409-410,  ed.  1715  and  Comment  de 

scriptt.  Brit.,  pp.  594-5,  ed.  1559. 

Foxe,  Acts  and  Monuments  Hi  731,  seq.  ed.  Townsend. 
Tanner,  Bibl.  Brit.  Hib.,  p.  583. 


CHURCHMAN  AND  MAN  OF  LETTEES  127 

Wood,  Hist,  et  Ant.  Univ.  Oxon.  lib.  i.  pp.  220,  seq.  ed. 

1674,  and  Aihenaa  Oxon.  i.  232,  ii.  875. 
History  and  Antiquities  of  the  University  of  Oxford,  ed. 

(Hutch. 

Hearne,  Hemingford,  vol.  i,  pp.  Ixxxvi-lxxxvii,  and  pref. 
Wharton,  Hist,  de  Episc.  et  Dec.  Londin,  et  assav.,  p. 

349  and  Preface  to  his  edition  of  Pecock's  Book  of 

Faith,  1688,  also  Survey  of  Cath,  of  St.  Asaph,  i. 

80-81,  ii.  118-119. 
Caxton,  Chron.  of  Eng.  pi.  vii;  Henry  VI,  p.  cciii,  ed. 

1502. 

Fabyan,  Chronicle,  p.  463,  ed.  1559. 

Fabricius,  Bill.  Lat.  Med.  aet.  V,  657-658,  VI,  172-173. 
Historisches  Lexicon,  ii.  745,  ed.  1722. 
Harpsfield,  Hist,  of  Wiclif  in  Hist.  Angl.  Eccles.  vol. 

xxix. 

Nicolai,  Proceedings  of  the  Privy  Council,  vi.  185  and  C. 
Rymer,  Foedera,  vol.  V,  pt.  i,  p.  132,  pt.  ii.  p.  25. 

LIVES  OF  PECOCK.    MODEEN  ACCOUNTS 

By  Rev.  John  Lewis,  M.  A.,  Minister  of  Mergate,  The 
Life  of  Reynold  Pecock,  S.  T.  P.,  Oxford,  1822. 

Babington,  Churchill,  Biographical  Sketch  in  the  Intro- 
duction to  the  edition  of  the  "Represser."  Rolls 
Series,  1860. 

Morison,  J.  L.,  Biographical  Sketch,  Reginald  Pecock's 
Book  of  Faith,  1908. 

Gairdner,  James,  Biographical  Sketch,  Lollardy  and  the 
Reformation  in  England,  Vol.  I,  Chapt.  II. 

Greenwood,  Alice  D.,  Biographical  Sketch,  Cambridge 
History  of  Eng.  Lit.  Vol.  II,  p,  286. 

Dublin  Review,  New  Series,  XL  VII,  27,  seq. 

MISCELLANEOUS  WOEKS  USED  IN  PEEPAEATION 

Stubbs,  William,  D.  D.,  The  Constitutional  History  of 
England. 


128  REGINALD  PECOCK 

Lingard,  John,  D.  D.,  History  of  England. 

Lodge,  R.  M.  A.,  Close  of  the  Middle  Ages,  1293-1494. 

Hallam,  Middle  Ages,  ii.  448  n. 

Cooper,  Annals  of  Cambridge,  i.  309. 

Stephens,  Memorials  of  the  See  of  Chichester,  pp.  152, 

se  q. 

Eamsay,  Lancaster  and  York  ii.  202. 
Hook,  W.  F.,  Lives  of  the  Archbishops  of  Canterbury, 

V.  178,  293,  sq. 
Ten  Brink,  English  Literature,  ed.  Robinson,  W.  C.,  ii. 

333,  sq. 
Newman,  John  Henry,  Idea  of  a  University;  Historical 

Sketches. 

Tout,  Prof.,  Place  of  Edward  II  in  English  History. 
Pollard,  Alfred  W.,  Fifteenth  Century  Prose  and  Verse. 
Gairdner,  James,  Paston  Letters,  i.  318. 
Kingsford,  C.  L.,  M.  A.,  English  Historical  Lit.  in  Fif- 
teenth Century. 
Leach,  Educational  Charters. 
Kirk,  Charles  the  Bold. 

Thompson,  E.  M.,  Wycliffe  Exhibition  in  Brit.  Mus. 
Gasquet,  The  Old  English  Bible  and  Other  Essays. 
Forshall  &  Madden,  Introduction  to  Edition  of  Wycliffe 

Scriptures. 

Todd,  Three  Treatises  of  John  Wycliffe,  Dublin,  1851. 
Arnold,  Select  English  Works  of  Wycliffe,  Oxford,  1869- 

71. 
Matthew,   F.   D.,   Unprinted  Eng.    Works   Of   Wycliffe 

(Early  Eng.  Text.  Soc.). 

Skeats,  Rev.  Walter  W.,  The  Student's  Chaucer. 
Morley,  Henry,  LL.  D.,  English  Writers. 
Moulton,  Charles  Wells,  Library  of  Literary  Criticism. 
Salembier,  L.,  The  Great  Schism  of  the  West. 
Pastor,  Histoire  des  Papes. 
Vaughan,  Roger  Bede,  0.  S.  B.,  Life  and  Labors  of  St. 

Thoma<s  Aquin. 


VITA 

The  author  of  this  dissertation  was  born  in  St. 
Louis,  Missouri,  June  22,  1891.  His  recollections  of 
earliest  childhood  are  of  those  years  passed  upon  a 
typical  Louisiana  plantation  near  St.  Gabriel.  It  was 
here  that  he  had  his  first  experience  at  school.  Later  he 
removed  to  Canada  where  he  attended  the  Grammar  and 
public  High  Schools  at  Simcoe,  Ontario.  In  1908,  he 
entered  Assumption  College,  Sandwich,  Ontario.  It  was 
in  this  institution  that  he  came  under  the  influence  of 
that  most  efficient  body  of  educators  the  Basilian  Fathers. 
At  the  end  of  five  happy,  profitable  years  at  Sandwich  he 
presented  himself  as  a  student  for  the  priesthood  to  the 
Bishop  of  Detroit  who  sent  him  to  complete  his  prepara- 
tory studies  in  Theology  under  the  Sulpician  Fathers  at 
St.  Mary's  Seminary,  Baltimore,  the  cradle  of  the 
American  Priesthood.  In  the  year  1916  he  was  ordained 
deacon  in  Baltimore  Cathedral  by  the  late  Cardinal  Gib- 
bons, and  on  June  2  of  the  following  year  was  raised  to 
the  priesthood  in  Sts.  Peter  and  Paul  Cathedral,  Detroit, 
Michigan.  For  two  years  he  was  stationed  at  St. 
Alouysius  Church.  Detroit,  and  at  the  completion  of  this 
term  was  sent  by  his  bishop  to  pursue  a  postgraduate 
course  of  studies  at  the  Catholic  University  of  America, 
Washington,  D.  C.  From  this  institution  he  obtained  the 
degree  of  Master  of  Arts,  and  the  following  year  was 
sent  by  the  Bishop  of  Detroit  to  Europe,  to  continue  his 
studies  and  research  at  Oxford,  and  in  the  Vatican 
Archives  in  Rome.  In  1921,  he  returned  to  the  Catholic 
University  of  America  to  complete  his  studies  for  the 
degree  Doctor  of  Philosophy. 

At  Oxford  he  followed  courses  in  English  Literature 
under  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  M.  A. ;  D.  Nichol  Smith,  M. 
A.;  A.  J.  Carlyle,  M.  A.,  D.  Litt.;  T.  Seccombe,  M.  A.; 
and  at  The  Catholic  University  of  America,  courses  under 
Prof.  P.  J.  Lennox,  M.  A.,  D.  Litt.;  Dr.  Gleis  and  Dr. 
Geary. 


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